Sam Cane said the support shown to him from rugby fans following his World Cup final red card has been "truly overwhelming".
Cane, the All Blacks captain, made history of the wrong kind on Sunday morning, becoming the first player to be given a red card in a final.
He was shown a yellow card by referee Wayne Barnes after making contact with the head of a South African rival in a tackle, but it was upgraded to a red by the television match official.
It meant he missed over half the match, with South Africa winning the tight encounter 12-11 for their fourth world title.
In the past, Cane, whose strong form in the knockout rounds was one the reasons the team made the final, may have been on the receiving end of abuse for what happened.
However, many fans have wrapped their arms around him.
Cane told Daniel Faitaua upon the team's arrival back in Auckland yesterday how much it meant to him.
"On a personal note, thank you so much to everyone that’s reached out, it’s been truly overwhelming. I’ve got thousands of messages and a lot of them are positive so I appreciate that support, even though deep down I feel like I’ve let people down."
Faitaua handed Cane a bunch of messages sent to TVNZ's Breakfast.
"It will probably make me tear up if I read them now, to be honest," Cane said.
In studio, the Breakfast team read out some of the messages they had received.
One of them, which captured the sentiment shared by many, was: "Hi Sam and team, huge hugs, so very very proud of all of you and especially you Sam, we feel your pain and want you to know if the coming days and months it will get easier, just know you are surrounded by heaps of love and hugs. Be kind to yourself, love Jude."
SHARE ME