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With a new rugby season about to begin, New Zealand rugby finds itself embroiled in a fresh reputation-destroying debacle.Mid Canterbury Kolinio Yabia Tamanitoakula yesterday pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman with the intent to rape her while his team was visiting Gisborne last October.The 25-year-old centre appeared in the Gisborne District Court via video link from Timaru, and was remanded on bail.IS RUGBY A 'GET OUT OF JAIL FREE' CARD IN NEW ZEALAND?The incident occurred following Mid Canterbury's provincial clash with Ngati Porou East Coast on October 1. Mid Canterbury Rugby stood down Tamanitoakula the following week after charges were pressed.Mid-Canterbury Rugby chief executive Ian Patterson told the New Zealand Herald that the rugby player had been removed from the team environment after the incident."We are appalled at Koli, and his behaviour was wrong," Patterson told the NZ Herald.STAR ALL BLACKS HALFBACK SHAMED AFTER SEXUAL ENCOUNTER IN AN AIRPORT DISABLED TOILET"It was right for him to take responsibility for his actions and plead guilty. After this incident, Mid-Canterbury Rugby reiterated the high standard of personal behaviour we expect from our representative players."Tamanitoakula wished to have his sentence made via his video link-up, but the judge instead has set his sentencing for Gisborne so the complainant could see him in person.A STRIPPER TELLS US WHY PRO RUGBY PLAYERS MAKE THE WORST CLIENTSNew Zealand rugby experienced a horror year with off-field incidents in 2016, with a central focus on rugby players poor treatment of women.Along with All Black halfback Aaron Smith's famed 'toliet-gate', the Waikato Chiefs stripper scandal and a light sentence on a rugby player in Wellington due to his rising talents diminished rugby union's reputation in New Zealand.
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