Player burnout worries Hansen

New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen believes that there should be an extended offseason following concerns about player fatigue.

The All Blacks defeated the Wallabies 37-20 in Yokohama on Saturday but still have to play four more games before their break. They take on Japan, England, Ireland and Italy in their northern hemisphere tour but Hansen would like to see the players given more rest.

“They don’t get enough of a break,” he said. “You can’t keep going round and round and round without running out of petrol — at some stage you’ve got to recharge the tank.

“The one thing I’d really want is that everyone gets 16 weeks’ break between their last game and their next one.”

New Zealand go head-to-head with Japan next week before facing England and Ireland over consecutive weekends, two teams that are likely to provide their sternest challenge in November.

Eddie Jones’ men are particularly struggling with injuries and suspensions, however, and Hansen believes that they are still suffering the repercussions of the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour.

He said: “The England boys have suffered a bit from the Lions tour — and it’s not only one season, it kicks on. It’s a worldwide problem and probably the team that’s managing it best at the moment is Ireland.

“They go ‘you can’t play’ because they own the players and franchises completely. They’ve got a good model.”

The All Blacks are expected to beat the Brave Blossoms comfortably next weekend but Hansen insists that their focus has not already shifted to the England encounter.

“I don’t want to be awkward but we’ve chosen to take it really one game at a time and not get ahead of ourselves,” he added. “But you can rest assured we’ve got a lot of respect for England. “They’ve got one or two people injured at the moment but so does everybody, that’s the nature of the beast. That’s why I keep harping on about the need for a global season that looks after the welfare of the players.” -