Hansen hits back at jibe
All Blacks coach used to accusations his side get away with cheating
Another test, another range of refereeing inconsistencies leading to accusations of double standards and dirty play — life is back to normal for the All Blacks.
Their 52-11 victory against France contained a 30-minute blast of particularly good rugby and yet the postgame focus has fallen squarely on two tackles.
That is perhaps understandable given the French, as even the All Blacks admit, were unfairly shown a yellow card for a non-high tackle while such a punishment wasn’t reciprocated when the home side appeared to do the same.
And so, given the different fates of each team, the All Blacks once again face accusations they are a protected species able to work favourable outcomes for employing illegal tactics.
This seemed the view from the French camp after the game, making them the latest in a long line of opponents to have aired a grievance about the All Blacks.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has heard it all before and tends to accept that as the world’s No 1 side, they can’t escape the scrutiny, valid or not.
“We have been called cheats for 100 years, haven’t we? If you keep winning, people will find reasons, I suppose,” he said.
“Richie McCaw was the biggest cheat ever. But he didn’t cheat; he just played to the letter of the law. When Auckland were playing Canterbury, they were the biggest cheats, then Canterbury got on top and they were the biggest cheats . . . you have just got to roll with that sort of stuff.”
Hansen is more concerned rugby authorities are continuing to take an inflexible approach to a complex issue that is never quite as black and white as those running the game want it to be.
World Rugby’s crusade to eliminate high tackles and associated head knocks has global support.
But not all high tackles are the same — and the situation at Eden Park was compounded by the refusal of referee Luke Pearce to use the TMO to support his decision-making.
French lock Paul Gabrillagues was yellow carded despite the fact the initial contact on Ryan Crotty wasn’t high. In real time, the tackle looked bad, but on the replay, it was borderline whether it was even a penalty.
The second tackle under scrutiny was the double-team hit by Sam Cane and Ofa Tuungafasi on Remy Grosso which resulted in the French wing fracturing his skull in two places.
Questions have inevitably arisen as to how Gabrillagues could be carded for his tackle, while neither Cane nor Tuungafasi were punished in the same way. And neither will be, as neither has been cited.
“I can understand they will be a little miffed when their guy got yellow carded,” Hansen said. “But as I [have] said, I don’t think their guy should have been yellow carded.
“Nor do I think Ofa should have been yellow carded either. Our game is fluid and there is movement in it and when you get two guys coming in to make a tackle on one, things can change late and I think that is what happened.
“Sam made the tackle and Ofa ended up hitting him [Grosso] in the face with his shoulder accidentally. There was no intention to hurt him.
“Unfortunately it is one of those things. All three of them got head knocks. When the game is fluid like it is and players change their angle late and you have committed, especially if you are a big guy, it is difficult to get out of the way.”
Perhaps the sense of contradictory refereeing wouldn’t have arisen had the inexperienced Pearce not been so determined to make his decision based on what he saw in real time.
When Gabrillagues initially made contact, it resulted in Crotty’s head being thrown back and the All Black
We have been called cheats for 100 years, haven’t we? If you keep winning, people will find reasons. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen
went down in a dramatic heap.
Most observers, on that evidence, thought they had seen an atrocity but the replay killed that notion — however, Pearce had already made his decision before he checked.
“At the moment, it is because they are trying to be strict,” Hansen said on why decisions appear confused and inconsistent. “And you could see that from the reaction of Luke [referee Pearce]. He saw it as a bad head high from the French player, but when you saw it on the replay, what he felt he saw wasn’t as bad.
“Sometimes you just have to take a bit of time and look at the video. If you are going to send someone off, I think you have to take your time and check it.”
There were many reasons for the All Blacks’ final quarter dominance at Eden Park which tore France to shreds, including an unlucky yellow card for the visitors and an increasingly dominant home pack, but by far the most spectacular was the work of replacements Ngani Laumape and Damian McKenzie.
Apart from halfback Aaron Smith, Laumape and McKenzie were the two shortest players on the pitch but they are used to punching above their weight and in the case of pocket battleship Laumape in particular, his punch carries a lot of weight.
The midfielder, on for the final 20 minutes in place of Ryan Crotty, scored a remarkable try when backing up McKenzie, the final act of which had the Hurricanes player running over the top of France fullback Maxime Medard.
“When I was in that moment, I saw TJ [Perenara] and he always tells me to back myself and pull the trigger . . . it was time for me to do what I do best,” said Laumape, who admitted the safer play was probably an inside pass to his unmarked teammate.
The 25-year-old had to do extra fitness after the game due to his relative lack of minutes and so hadn’t seen the replay of his try when he spoke to media afterwards but he was likely to be satisfied when he did.
His one-way collision with Medard was a metaphor for how the All Blacks finished a test they trailed 8-11 at halftime. The tightest defence in the Six Nations had been blown apart and the All Blacks scored seven tries in the last 27 minutes.
“The boys who started the game did all the hard work,” Laumape said.
McKenzie, who replaced fullback Jordie Barrett after 60 minutes, was just as spectacular and also stressed the importance of adding thrust and impact to the match after his arrival.
“I came on in the 60-minute mark, so it was up to me to bring some energy to the game,” McKenzie said. “I managed to — a few things came my way.”
McKenzie’s break set up Laumape’s try and an earlier one from 50m resulted in a try for the Chiefs first-five, who enjoyed the extra freedom and space at the back.
“I’m happy to go wherever I’m needed,” he said. “[On Saturday], it was 15 and it was good to get back there with a bit more time.”
The All Blacks are changing the game with their use of the bench and expectation that it adds something meaningful to the contest.
Coach Steve Hansen had stressed to the Herald before this first test of the year that he and his assistants had to get that replacement strategy spot on due to the lack of recent game time for five of his starting eight forwards.
But not even he could have imagined the impact they would have, starting with debutant Karl Tu’inukuafe, the loosehead prop who helped his side win a crucial scrum penalty in his first act of the game, and finishing with Laumape and McKenzie, two relatively small players who had a large say.
Sonny Bill Williams is a surprise possibility to be available for the All Blacks in the third test in Dunedin in a fortnight. The midfielder had surgery on his right knee only 10 days ago but such is his quick recovery that the medical staff have given him the all-clear to start running already.
He will miss Saturday’s test in Wellington, with Ryan Crotty and Anton Lienert-Brown likely to be retained in the midfield.
Williams will probably wear the No 12 jersey in Dunedin, with Crotty moved to centre.
There is bad news, though, for Crusaders loose forward Jordan Taufua, a player yet to appear in a test and ruled out of the series due to a torn calf muscle.
Williams had the operation to remove a bone chip from his knee and was missed as the Blues lost to the Rebels at Eden Park last weekend.