 Campbell (right) has been highly visible this week |
New Zealand coach Graham Henry has attacked the role Lions media consultant Alastair Campbell has played since Saturday's first Test. The incident which saw Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll injured and out of the tour has enjoyed as many headlines as the All Blacks' crushing 21-3 win.
New Zealand captain Tana Umaga has been heavily criticised for his role in the incident, and Henry blames Campbell.
"I'm sure it's all part of the policy - Mr Campbell and his policies," he said.
"It's another person to say the same thing the next day.
"I guess it's very irritating if everybody has to read that stuff all the time, but I guess that's what he's paid to do."
 |  It has been a bit of an annoyance but I think we have to live with these things |
O'Driscoll suffered a dislocated shoulder after less than two minutes of the first Test when he was involved in an incident with Umaga and All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu.
The incident and Umaga's subsequent silence has provoked a storm of media comment, but Henry said he was not the sort of coach who pinned newspaper cuttings to the dressing room wall to motivate his team.
He added: "There would not be enough wall space to put all that stuff on anyway, so why bother?"
Umaga said he had been frustrated by the attention paid to him and was doing his best to ignore all the controversy in the media.
"It has been a bit of an annoyance, really, but I think we have to live with these things," he said.
"There is not much else we can do about it, other than not read the papers, watch television or listen to the radio, which is pretty much what I have done.
"The support from the boys has been very big. They have closed around me a bit, and the senior players, especially, have tried to rally around me.
"It seems the easiest thing to do now is play the game. What happens in between is a lot tougher."
MMIX
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