World Cup Twitter ban for All Blacks

All Blacks players have been banned from communicating directly with fans via Twitter during this year's World Cup, amid fears the microblogging website will prove a distraction during the tournament.

With the All Blacks under pressure to ditch their tag as World Cup chokers when New Zealand hosts the rugby showcase in September-October, coach Graham Henry said the days of players freely tweeting their thoughts were over.

"We haven't had a policy up till now, we've just asked them to make good decisions about that," he told Sky Sports on Thursday.

"In the All Blacks' camp, most of the time, they've made good decisions -- but at Rugby World Cup time -- zilch."

All Blacks manager Darren Shand said players had also been warned against using private Facebook pages, blogging and writing newspaper columns during the tournament.

"We don't want players doing it (tweeting) individually, it just creates distraction," Shand told the Dominion Post newspaper. "We want to be totally focused on the job at hand."

He said fans could follow an official All Blacks Twitter feed during the tournament.

"We won't be shutting ourselves away from the world," he added.

(c) 2011 AFP