Aaron Smith issues apology after ban on toilet incident

New Zealand halfback Aaron Smith has tendered an apology following the one-match ban he received after seen entering a toilet cubicle with a woman at Christchurch Airport.

New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen announced on Wednesday that Smith will miss the upcoming Rugby Championship encounter against Springboks after team unanimously decided on the halfback's one-game suspension. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key also condemned the incident causing more embarrassment to the Highlanders star.

"I've made a huge mistake, a huge error in judgment," said Smith from a hotel in Durban.

"I'd firstly like to say a huge sorry to my partner Teagan, her family, my family. I'm also sorry to my team-mates, NZRU and the New Zealand fans.

"My behaviour was unacceptable and if you could respect me and my partner in this situation. I'm just trying to get home to deal with this. Thank you."

Meanwhile, Key stated that Smith had let himself and his team down especially at a situation when the rugby union in the country has been facing accusations of misogyny.

"I think Aaron has clearly let himself and those that are close to him down, there's no question about that," Key said.

"He'll have to reflect on that and I'm sure the New Zealand Rugby Football Union will have to reflect on that.

"All that I would say as a general rule in defence of the All Blacks, they have been for the most part very good role models for the last 10 or 20 years, under both Richie McCaw's leadership and now more recently under Kieran Read.

"They do a lot to try and prove to young New Zealanders that they're the sort of people to look up to but that's why I think Aaron will feel pretty disappointed in himself.

"I think the rugby union, coming off the back of a couple of other pretty poor PR issues in recent times, will want to make sure they send a strong message to the All Blacks that they have a high level of expectation in their behaviour. And Aaron clearly didn't meet it.

"I suspect he'll be sitting back, reflecting on the fact he's let himself down, he's let the team down.

"He's an integral part of the All Blacks so he won't want to be sitting on the sidelines, and frankly, he's embarrassed himself a bit. So I'd say he'd be (a) pretty disappointed young man."