New Zealand Rugby has apologised for its handling of a Twitter post that was intended to celebrate International Women's Day but instead drew a major backlash.
The All Blacks were criticised for the tribute, which said the team would be "forever grateful to all the women in our lives that allow us to play the game we love."
However, the post contained no mention of New Zealand's women's rugby team, who are World Cup titleholders and have won five of the past six tournaments.
The Black Ferns, as they are known, also won sevens gold at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics last year.
Many were quick to also point out the error in judgement including Sevu Reece and Aaron Smith among those pictured, given both players have controversial pasts involving women.
Fiji-born Reece, 25, admitted to assaulting his partner while drunk in the street in 2018, while scrum-half Smith was caught cheating on his then-girlfriend (now wife, Teagan Voykovich) in an airport toilet in 2016.
Former England international Kat Merchant was among those who pilloried the post, referencing the original tweet as she wrote: "Why is #InternationalWomensDay needed? This right here!
"Black ferns are current world champions yet this post chose to ignore their existence and instead thank the women who ‘allow’ men to play. Also they used a player who has plead guilty to domestic abuse #dobetter."
NZ Rugby apologised for its error in judgement as part of a written statement to the New Zealand Herald, admitting "we didn't get it right."
“NZR and our Teams in Black celebrated International Women’s Day across all of our digital channels and our intent was to portray the many roles women have in our game,” the statement read.
“We didn’t get it right and we apologise – our entire rugby whanau [a Maori-language word meaning 'extended family] are so proud of our Black Ferns and all our wahine [a Maori or Polynesian woman], in everything that they do on and off the pitch.”
The Black Ferns celebrated International Women's Day via their own account, posting pictures on behalf of players celebrating occasions and people who mean a lot to them and their journey.
The original post has since been deleted from the All Blacks Twitter account, which boasts more than one million followers.
NZ Rugby had attempted to issue an apology via its official account on Wednesday, though that drew further criticism given that page boasts a little more than 13,000 followers.
That was considered by some to be a means of apologising while dodging some of the scrutiny they might otherwise have attracted had it been sent out via the main channel.
This month witnessed the start of the inaugural edition of Super Rugby Aupiki, a women's competition in New Zealand comprising four squads of 28 players, each on professional or semi-professional contracts.
New Zealand's Black Ferns are poised to defend their World Cup crown when they host the tournament for the first time in October 2022.
