Sam Cane's spur of the moment decision to kick a young pitch invader following the All Blacks' big win against Argentina in Mendoza yesterday has split opinion, but one person fully in his corner is sports commentator Scotty Stevenson.
Cane has apologised for his actions, which saw him knock the invader to the ground before he carried on running from security.
He said he was "deeply disappointed" in himself, with the incident to be reviewed by Sanzaar.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Stevenson said "the kid got what he deserved, stop running on the field".
"Look at the way he bounced back up, kids are like rubber. He's just lucky Cane didn't tackle him. It was just a leg trip, the kid's fine, and Cane, Cane has apologised to this kid."
Stevenson said pitch invaders were a nuisance, and Cane's actions came in the blink of an eye.
"Stop clutching our pearls over it, Sam Cane is not your role model, he's a footy player, he's just played 80 minutes, he probably doesn't know what planet he is on and someone in the corner of his eye has just run on the field."
Elliott Smith, who was on the field for Sky, said there were a number of pitch invaders after the match, and he and Damian McKenzie were nearly "taken out" by one.
Cane later said he caught up with the youngster - Roman - for a catch-up.
"Had a good catch up with him and his friends and I’m glad that we could leave things in a good place."
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