Hansen wary of ‘hungry’ Aussies
NZR cleared over SBW
Steve Hansen has viewed enough rugby to understand why desperate, and angry, teams can revert to unsavoury tactics when plotting their revenge.
Look at what happened when the Wallabies lost their first Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney last year.
Humiliated by that 42-8 defeat, the Wallabies were a frothymouthed bunch when they attempted to upset the All Blacks a week later - only to be forced to wipe the gunpowder from their own faces as they lost 29-9 in Wellington; niggle, and lots of it, was on display and lock Adam Coleman was yellow carded for a late charge on fullback Ben Smith.
All Blacks coach Hansen has surely given his team the tip that a boisterous reception could be in store for them in Bledisloe II in Dunedin tomorrow night, given they humiliated the Aussies 54-34 in Sydney last weekend.
‘‘I will expect them [the Wallabies] to be a lot more physical than they were last week, yeah,’’ Hansen said yesterday. ‘‘There’s a good PC answer for you.’’
‘‘They’ll be hurting, so they’ll be hungry and desperate.’’
The fact of the matter is that political correctness could be in very short supply at Forsyth Barr Stadium, and rather than try to entertain the players and crowd with pithy one-liners, referee Nigel Owens could be better off ensuring his pockets are fully loaded with cards.
Not that the All Blacks are angels, either.
We saw that when Sonny Bill Williams was deservedly red carded for almost turning British and Irish Lions wing Anthony Watson’s head into margarine when he butted his shoulder into him in the second test in Wellington this winter.
Openside flanker Sam Cane, who put in a huge shift with 25 tackles last weekend, accepts the All Blacks mustn’t allow the Wallabies to bully them but also cannot allow it to dilute their focus.
‘‘The best way to look at is is ‘jeez, if they are running around trying to do those sorts of things it means they are off-task in the things that they probably should be concentrating on’,’’ Cane explained.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika will have spent the week educating his forward pack on the need to be spikier in the confrontations.
Aggressive defence and cleanouts doesn’t equate to niggle. If his side is to have a chance of upsetting the Kiwis in a city they have not won in since 2001 the Sanzaar has cleared New Zealand Rugby of a ‘‘deliberate failure’’ in the handling of Sonny Bill Williams’ apparent head knock against the Wallabies.
The organisation which oversees the Rugby Championship and Super Rugby looked into whether medical officials should have conducted concussion tests on the All Blacks centre during the Bledisloe Cup opener against the Wallabies.
The 32-year-old stumbled after making a tackle early in New Zealand’s 54-34 victory in Sydney on Saturday.
He appeared disorientated, then was involved in two more heavy collisions before play stopped. However, he was not checked by the team’s medical staff or the independent doctor employed to assess head injuries.
Sanzaar requested a full report from All Blacks management and the Australian Rugby Union’s chief medical officer as part of the review.
It said in a statement yesterday that there was not a ‘‘deliberate failure or an ‘Untoward Incident’’’ under the World Rugby Player Welfare Standards.
The review found the incident was not identified by the Head Injury Assessment (HIA) specialist, the matchday doctor, team doctors or match officials.
Wallabies must change their game in multiple areas.
Losing veteran tighthead prop Owen Franks, who could require an operation to fix his troublesome Achilles tendon, isn’t ideal for the All Blacks. His replacement Nepo Laulala is a good scrummager, but doesn’t deliver the some sting with his defensive hits or cleanouts.
Hansen kept the same back three that started in Sydney because he wanted to give Damian Mckenzie another shot at fullback, meaning Israel Dagg has again been left out of the matchday 23.