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'A world of good': Steve Hansen's reaction to the All Blacks historic loss
By Ben Smith
Former All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen says that New Zealand will come out ‘sharper’ in two weeks’ time after the Twickenham let down against South Africa.
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The 2015 World Cup-winner believed that only good will come from the 28-point defeat which was the largest in All Black history.
It was hooker Dane Coles’ post-match comments that got Hansen’s attention, as the Hurricane hinted that the preparation wasn’t serious enough for the task at hand.
“The message he will be giving is exactly what you just said, let’s look at what we’ve done well here, let’s put some meaning around the performance,” Hansen told Sky Sport NZ’s The Breakdown.
“One of things, funnily enough I heard Colesy say, that they may have been a bit ahead of themselves.
“So they’ll talk about their mindset and their preparation, how genuine was it going into that week and then everyone will come out of the other side bitter, a little sharper.
“They’ll roll into this week’s training with a bit more energy and enthusiasm and the week following the World Cup starts.”
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Hansen said perspective was needed in evaluating where both sides are currently at and what they need to accomplish over the month of September.
The All Blacks weren’t yet World Cup ready after their first-choice team last played over a month ago, while the Springboks are preparing themselves for the hard slog in the ‘pool of death’.
“We’ve got to put the performance against the Boks into perspective, you’ve got one team that’s preparing for the pool of death,” Hansen said.
“They are right up for it, they need to be right to play, the best they can play from day one in the tournament.
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“They played a week ago against Wales, our guys I think we had seven or eight that hadn’t played for four weeks.
“You know four weeks is a long time.”
Despite the ill-discipline that plagued the All Blacks and cost them a player for 50 minutes, Hansen believed the big takeaway for the team was the lack of timing.
With two weeks in camp together the All Blacks will have the opportunity to improve on the miscues.
“If you look at the performance, the big thing that was missing was timing, from the engagement at scrum time, to everything we did,” he said.
“The lineouts were too early, we were just off the pace.
“When you play an opposition that are primed and ready and as good as South Africa are, you are going to get a punch on the nose.
“I think it will do them a world of good and they will bounce back fairly quickly. Personally, they’ll be hurt as any All Black team is when they lose.
“There is lots of benefits, they will improve.”
One of the great minds of modern All Black rugby: experienced, terse, and the antithesis of hyperbole.
Hansen is right, when the All Blacks hammered the Boks a couple of weeks ago it was also because of a large number of Boks playing for the first time after a long lay-off. Its a big difference maker at the absolute top level.
Brody and Fritzel will also be back soonest, and Scott Barret was cleared to play. All Black fans should relax, their team is still right in there to win the tournament.
The France vs All Blacks game is going to be a real cracker, cannot wait.
Lol now it’s 4 weeks they haven’t played 🤣 “ they are entering the pool of death” , yet NZ’s first game is against France. The excuses are getting really entertaining here.
I think Shag is making some good sense here.
steve were you part of eddies team when you made that commment by any chance
This fielding two forward packs has be stopped. Replacements should be limited to five forwards and three backs. Otherwise the game will descend permanently into the bashfest that it mostly is.
Coles is coming up second oldest All Black of all time. Think we need Taylor in there. Agree Cane isn't quite up to that level yet. We definitely need Brodie Retallick back. They will play better against France but will it be enough ?
Hopefully Coles will not start any important games