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'I didn’t push enough buttons': Steve Hansen takes blame for All Blacks' 2019 semi-final defeat
By Kim Ekin
Former All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen has opened up on the 2019 semi-final defeat to England which ended hopes of three consecutive World Cup titles.
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After getting through South Africa 23-13 in pool play and dispatching Ireland comfortably 46-14, the All Blacks were stunned by England 19-7 and held scoreless in the first half.
The head coach was on high alert after the Ireland win but says he didn’t “demand enough” of the side heading into the semi-final, calling the All Blacks “mentally soft”.
“I have to take the blame. We beat Ireland pretty convincingly in the quarter-finals,” Hansen told The Times.
“I earmarked that as a danger but we also had Kieran Read injured and I was trying to make sure we didn’t lose confidence if he was out.
“I wasn’t demanding enough. I didn’t push enough buttons and we went in a little soft mentally and England came in on fire.”
The All Blacks and England did not play during 2016 and 2017 when both sides were on top of the world in the rankings.
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They finally met at Twickenham in late 2018 which ended with a tight 19-18 win to the All Blacks after a late try to Sam Underhill was chalked off for an offside call.
After that tough encounter, the semi-final was always expected to be close but England were on top early and never let up.
Hansen believed he had the squad to win the title again but they were off on the day, which shows how hard it is to win the title.
“World Cups are the hardest things to win. We were good enough to win in 2007 and we were good enough to win in 2019, but we didn’t,” Hansen said.
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“And that’s the facts. That tells you how hard it is to win it.
“You have to survive three weeks in a row against really good opponents.
“You have a mental slip and are a few per cent down and the other team are 5 per cent above themselves, then you are gone.”
This is why I am not worried about our tough draw, or a heavily jet lagged team being smashed by South Africa the same way we had done to them in the RC.
4 teams are good enough to win this tournament. It will not come down to Foster, or any of the Barrett brothers, but collectively which team is up for it on the day, and which team can maintain that intensity for 3 weeks.
In 2011 France were horrendous in the pool games. They were lucky to get through after a loss to Tonga. Had Tonga themselves not been upset by Canada, France would have been on the plane home at the same time as Romania and Namibia. But come the business end they switched on and came within a whisker of history.
Alternatively NZ peaked in the semi final. Had they played France the week before they would have put them to the sword. But on that day they got very lucky to win.
Same with England in 2007. Horrible in the pool games, written off against Australia in the QFs, 2 weeks later they are a disallowed try away from consecutive world cup titles with what was a very limited and average team.
Hansen makes the point so well here. England were up for it on that day and completely embarrassed the ABs. We didn't fire a single shot. The next week England completely capitulated. There was no magic from Rassie, SA turned up to play and win, England couldn't match them. They were 50% of the team that beat the ABs the week before.
Hansen putting his hand up! A lot of good that makes - Hansen / Foster started to lose the plot in 2017, when they scraped a draw againts the Lions. The fact we went into the semi-final RWC19 with a backline (excluding Barrett) with only 40 caps between them was a shocker. The fact that Hansen / Foster had refused to give Mo'unga a real run at #10 without confusing the issue with the double playmaker BS. I am no Crusaders fan, but Mo'unga is a much better player when Beauden is not playing. Hansen / Fosters experiment of playing Scott at #6 in teh semi final also failed as the 2 #7 Kamikazie boys in England tore our ruck apart. Hansen had lost the plot by then. An of course the madness of NZRU to choose consistency over a breath of fresh air was icing on the cake, and has lost us any chance of reaching the final of RWC23 let alone winning it.
The obsession with having three Barrett brothers in the team was our downfall and this remains the same today