Hansen in good heart after win
Steve Hansen didn’t mind that.
In fact, he was fairly pleased with how New Zealand’s 25-24 Rugby Championship win over South Africa came about.
As the head coach joked ‘‘57-0 is pretty easy on the ticker.’’ But in the long run, what happened in Cape Town yesterday will do a lot more for the health of All Blacks rugby than another walkover.
‘‘It gives our younger players, who haven’t been in that situation before, a little bit of relief that even when it’s tough you can find a way,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘This year’s been a great year for us. 2016 was a breeze.The young fellas all came in and we played extraordinary rugby and it was a breeze.
‘‘What I mean by that is mentally, for them, they were all coming in trying to test themselves and say ‘listen, we don’t need [Richie] McCaw and [Conrad] Smith and all these guys, we can still do this’. It became apparent that they were all pretty talented rugby players, but none of them really got put under pressure until such time as [the team lost to Ireland in] Chicago.
‘‘Even then they didn’t have to sleep with that rock under their towel for too long either, because they got to play them [and beat them] in Ireland, so there hasn’t been too much adversity.
‘‘This year, what with sabbaticals and injuries and everyone coming at us and playing the Lions early, there’s been quite a bit of pressure on. Whilst we’ve played some rugby for 80 minutes and played really well, there’s been other games where we’ve played for 60 and clocked off.
‘‘All of those things learnings for a young team.’’
And a few folk beyond the team. Hansen and company have been at pains to say South Africa are a good side. Ignore the 57-0 scoreline at Albany three weeks ago. South Africa are better than that.
In Cape Town, the All Blacks enjoyed some good periods and strung together some exciting passages of play. But you couldn’t say they ever took control of the game and every time New Zealand scored, South Africa hit straight back.
After trading penalties, a Ryan Crotty try gave New Zealand an 8-3 halftime lead. The first spell ran to 50 minutes, by which time right wing Nehe Milner-Skudder had dislocated his right shoulder, while Beauden Barrett suffered a head knock.
Barrett passed his concussion test but still didn’t feel right, so the decision was made to leave Lima Sopoaga on in his place.
A Ross Cronje try put South Africa in front, before a Rieko Ioane intercept and then good interplay between MilnerSkudder’s replacement David Havili and Damian McKenzie, saw the latter scoot away to score.
Jean-Luc du Preez responded are for the Springboks but a Sopoaga penalty appeared as if it had kicked New Zealand to safety. However, hooker Malcolm Marx scored for South Africa to give them one last shot at causing a massive upset.
Tired and a bit desperate, the All Blacks hung on.
‘‘Our guys showed a tremendous amount of courage and character; and our defence, I don’t know how many tackles we’ve made, but we’ve made a lot,’’ said Hansen.
‘‘And nice to see a couple of the young guys have the courage to do as they did - Havili and Macca - to put us in a position to be able to hit the front.’’