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'Arguably the greatest coach' back in All Blacks camp after Wallaby excursion
By AAP
Declining Eddie Jones’s jovial offer of a gold jersey, Steve Hansen is back in black – and the Kiwi camp couldn’t be happier.
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New Zealanders were outraged when the World Cup-winning coach joined Jones’s Wallabies prior to the tournament in France with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins joking they may have to cancel his citizenship.
All Blacks hooker Dane Coles sounded hurt, declaring he was “gob-smacked” when told Hansen had been helping out their arch-rivals.
Jones said he and Hansen were great mates and he’d asked him to give a fresh perspective on the Wallabies, who were winless through five games in 2023 before their opening pool game victory over Georgia.
But 64-year-old Hansen, who steered New Zealand to glory in the 2015 tournament, has shared the love around, joining the All Blacks at their Lyon base.
New Zealand scrum coach Jason Ryan said Hansen was running his eye over the set-up following their bitter loss to France in Paris in their first taste of the World Cup.
“He’s here until Wednesday and it’s been good,” Ryan said.
“He’s arguably the greatest coach we’ve ever had so it’s really special to have him in here, really special.”
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Both with ties to Canterbury rugby in New Zealand, Ryan said that Hansen had long been a big influence on him.
“On a personal level he’s been unbelievable for me right through my Super Rugby career and right into the All Blacks,” he said.
“He’s someone I stay in contact with all the time and to have him in here, he’s got a beautiful eye on him and drops a few good one-liners in.
“But he also helps the coaches and wants the All Blacks to be better first and foremost.”
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Called it.
Good move. Calm some nerves. He’ll have a good influence.
who else would be in that argument? Wayne Smith? Ted
He was a great coach 2012 to 2016 then he started to lose his way. First weaknesses appeared in Lions series but real problems manifested themselves in 2018 /2019 when the Hansen / Foster selections became erratic - they absolutely refused to look at Mo’unga so in reality we went into RWC19 with a backline which only had Barrett and ALB with more than 15 caps
Then remember the decision to keep SBW in the mix well past sell by date and to drop Smith after playing him out of position to accommodate Barrett - ten there was Herculean mistake of Scott Barrett at 6 in the semi final - proved such a disaster he was yanked for Cane at half time
So yes a great coach in his day - but like all greats he started to believe the hype and lost the plot
I think it’s great. Why wouldn’t you? Shag was a great coach.
A perfect example of a "magical thought" of the Nz: The sorcerer Foster will work miracles.
There will be no miracles and even if some players have a real talent, the reconstruction will take time. We will thus be able to see if the supporters remain faithful in adversity...
FYI, Jason Ryan is the forwards coach, Greg Feek is the scrum coach
They seem desperate 🤔
I think outrage would be a bit of an exaggeration, more like a little bit shocked and surprised