'Shot gun' tactics for Rugby World Cup spy drones
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/72051315/shot-gun-tactics-for-rugby-world-cup-spy-drones

All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen talks tactics with assistant coach Ian Foster.
HANNAH PETERS / GETTY IMAGES

Shooting down drones might be a step too far, but the All Blacks are doing what they can to prevent prying eyes from spying on their training sessions at the World Cup.

The defending champions held their first on field practice shortly after checking into their Lensbury base near Twickenham on Tuesday with the fences around the pitch wrapped by plastic cling and patrolled by security guards.

That's nothing particularly new to the All Blacks, but assistant coach Ian Foster admitted keeping things under wraps, literally, was of extra importance at the World Cup and that spies were a legitimate concern.

"I guess there are [prying eyes] and like every team we have people around who are checking up on all those sort of things, we're no different," he said.

"For us coaches we have a pretty simple mindset that we have plenty of work to do and train. Clearly we take precautions to make sure what we do is just for us at this point."

All Blacks training sessions will be open to media for only the first 15 minutes for the duration of the tournament, primarily to allow camera crews to gain news footage.And while some might see such measures as paranoia, there is a well documented history of spying accusations in international rugby."Some people will chase information however they can," Foster said."I don't think it's new to the game. It's unfortunate and hopefully it's not happening, but like I said we're like everyone else and we'll take precautions."In 2005 All Blacks coaches Graham Henry and Wayne Smith were stunned to discover camouflaged men in the bushes filming their training in West London.And England's 2003 World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward admitted he had changing rooms and team hotels swept for bugs.Current All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has also been on record with his concerns about underhand tactics in regard to spying and in Brisbane in 2008 accused a television station of passing on training footage to the Wallabies.

Asked if small hi-tech hidden cameras or drones might be difficult to combat in the modern era, Foster conceded there was only so much a team could do to guard their privacy."Funnily enough I saw my first drone a little while back at my daughter's soccer practice and one of the parents showed me how high the could go and you couldn't even see it up there," he said."I guess we could have a shot gun somewhere, but there's not much you can do about it."
- Stuff