SBW will play first Bledisloe — Hansen
All Blacks coach reveals Williams looks set to face Wallabies after serving suspension
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has confirmed Sonny Bill Williams will be available for the first Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney. Williams copped a four-match suspension for his hit on Anthony Watson in the second Lions test in Wellington. He subsequently missed the deciding Lions test and the Blues’ loss to the Sunwolves in Tokyo. The other two matches centre on Counties Manukau’s preseason, and a club rugby fixture.
Ideally, given his lack of game time, the All Blacks want Williams available for their hit-out against Taranaki and Counties Manukau a week before the August 19 Bledisloe match.
But, whatever happens, Williams will feature against the Wallabies.
“There’s one game that’s a bit contentious about whether they are going to consider it or not,” Hansen told Radio Sport’s Martin Devlin, referring to the club game. “If that’s not the case then we’ll get him back just for the test match. If it’s considered then we’ll get him back for the game of three halves that we play every year before the Mitre 10 and Bledisloe starts.”
Reports continue to swirl around Malakai Fekitoa’s likely departure to French club Toulon; the latest suggesting club president Mourad Boudjellal had announced the 25-yearold’s signing.
Fekitoa was left out of the original All Blacks squad to face the Lions after struggling on attack this season. But he gained a reprieve with a spot on the bench for the third Lions test after Williams’ suspension and Ryan Crotty’s injury.
“He’s always in our mind. He has been a very good player,” Hansen said of Fekitoa, the 24-test centre “We felt there’s an area of his game we wanted to see him improve on and didn’t select him because of that. He got an opportunity again in the series and played well. He’s making a decision based on what’s right for him. Like all of the guys who go overseas we don’t want them to go but we’ve got to support them. If he goes overseas then we’ll support him in that.
“You try and talk to all of them. The big thing is you don’t want them going if they’ve got time and things to do in the black jersey because they’ll have regrets when they get older and finish playing.”
Hansen also explained the reasoning behind Jordie Barrett not being handed the tee for the final drawn Lions test, a match where brother Beauden was criticised for his goalkicking inaccuracy.
“Why Jordie didn’t kick is he was playing his first test match. People who haven’t played or coached at that level have no idea how much pressure a young bloke is under. It’s one thing to play the game but to have to come out and kick the goals it can be crippling. We still have faith in Beauden and had faith in him that night. Unfortunately he didn’t quite get the job done but he’s a world-class player and I’m sure he’ll be better for the experience.”
Hansen said he had a beer with Lions coach Warren Gatland after the series but they were both busy men so it did not last long. He rejected suggestions the All Blacks had been outcoached.
“In the first test we won it pretty comfortably and if we kicked a goal in either of the other two none of these questions would be being raised. But we didn’t and they are being raised. They good thing is we’ve got to go away and look ourselves.
“We know we weren’t successful and we know people wanted more because we wanted more.”
World Rugby vice-chairman Agustin Pichot recently made a case for Japan’s inclusion in the Rugby Championship. Hansen was not so keen on the idea of adding more fixtures. “Not at this stage, no.”