When you think of the All Blacks, you think of professionalism and undisputed dominance, but under Steve Hansen, their recorded indiscipline within the side has more than doubled.
According to Stuff.co.nz, the All Blacks were carded every 338.5 minutes - which equates to seeing a card once in every 4 games, under the reign of previous head coach Graham Henry.
In the run-up to the 2015 world cup, under the reign of Steve Hansen (the current All Blacks head coach), the figure decreased to 166 minutes, and since then it has further decreased to ~ 139 minutes. Meaning that an All Black is shown a card at least every 2 games.
The All Blacks have progressed from being the squeaky-clean side of the past to the most ill-disciplined tier 1 side in the professional era. They have managed to rack up a jaw-dropping 31 cards in 54 games during the last 4 years...
The biggest contributor to the tally is Kieran Read (their current team captain), with a grand total of 5 yellow cards being shown to the flanker since 2008. He would be the most ill-disciplined player in tier 1 rugby if it were not for the Puma's (Argentina) Tomas Lavanini - with the second-row managing 5 yellows and a red since 2013.
I would not have thought that New Zealand topped these rankings, but they do - and they ARE the most ill-disciplined team in tier 1 rugby.
Keep posted for more Sports articles!