Hansen sends clear message
Steve Hansen clearly understands his true teaching moments with the All Blacks are few and far between. That’s why the master coach has jumped all over this one like it’s a coackroach scuttling across your kitchen floor, delivering a message to his players prior to departure for Argentina that sets the theme for the penultimate week of the Rugby Championship in BA, and beyond.
Hansen severely criticised the All Blacks’ game management in the 36-34 defeat to the Springboks in Wellington which he described as ‘‘next to zero’’.
He compared his team’s handling of a significant advantage in possession, territory and opportunities at the Cake Tin to the 2007 World Cup quarterfinal defeat against France in Cardiff. That was one of the bleakest days in All Blacks history as they exited the global event at an unprecedented stage in bizarre circumstances.
These were some of Hansen’s comments about coming off the defeat prior to heading to South America:
‘‘Our game management was the biggest problem. It’s partly the leadership, and it’s partly my fault because I haven’t given them enough understanding of what to do.
‘‘I think back to 2007 for the last time I can remember a game that was so poorly managed, and it was because of the pressure of the scoreboard and pressure of the event. This time the same thing happened and we got so individualistic.
‘‘I don’t have to demand anything. You just expect it. You’re an All Black so you want to go out and play better than you did last time. You don’t have to demand that – it just happens.’’
This is Hansen departing from type. He normally cuddles his players after some adversity, and defends them to the hilt.
Not this time. On this occasion Hansen has led the assault, and set the tone. He wants to see how his team responds to being challenged so directly to improve an intrinsic part of its game. This week and next – for that rematch against the Boks in Pretoria shapes as an absolute classic.
Look, Hansen hasn’t said what he’s said because he’s impetuous and hot-headed. He’s cool, calm and calculating and has done this to reinforce a point and to gauge the result.
Often the All Blacks mask their deficiencies because their talent, skill and speed allows them to prevail even when they’re operating below their best.
But every now and again someone knuckles down and finds a way to hang with them and be in a position to expose the frailties when it counts.
That was the Boks in Wellington. They had no right to be in that match with the mountain of possession against them, but they tackled like their lives depended on it, fed off All Blacks errors and came up big down the stretch. And revived their own ailing international programme in the process.
Now Hansen is making sure his players learn from this situation. Pain is nothing in sport without the gain.
In fact he even unfurled his own analogy just before departure in case we had missed the point: ‘‘I’m meant to be the teacher and they’re meant to be the students,’’ he said at Auckland airport. ‘‘So I’ve now got a classroom of students that want to listen.’’
And they had better be taking notes.
Hansen will forgive his leaders and drivers – men like Beauden and Jordie Barrett, Damian McKenzie, Aaron Smith and TJ Perenara, Kieran Read and Ben Smith – their shortcomings on a one-off basis.
He will not tolerate them on a weekly basis.
There is no Read in BA this week. But the others are on notice. They have to be smarter with their decisions and better with their execution next time things are tight. If they’re down two in the final minutes and camped in front of the posts, they had better take a dropped goal when it’s there for the taking.
Good teams learn from their mistakes. Great teams don’t make them again.