Hansen must open his mind
It is hard to conceive of Steve Hansen as once a lad, with jam dripping from his chin, swinging a vinegared conker, but there really was something youthful about his early days in charge of the All Blacks.
Hansen took over from Graham Henry after the 2011 World Cup and the land felt renewed.
There was a vitality and an excitement about the first two squads that Hansen picked. Young players were brought in. Every Super Rugby player suddenly had hope. New Zealand rugby was no longer a gentlemen’s club where everyone spoke in hushed terms in case the oldest member woke up.
The first squad that Hansen picked in June 2012 included Sam Cane and Ben Tameifuna, at the age of 20, Brodie Retallick, Beauden Barrett and Julian Savea, all aged 21, and the 23-year-old Aaron Smith. The wider training squad assembled the month before had included 21-year-olds Tawera KerrBarlow, Luke Whitelock and Brad Shields.
It is worth remembering what Hansen said back then, because it could be a different man speaking. Look at the photographs of the time and you will see Hansen with an open smile – a look we haven’t seen for years.
Hansen said: ‘‘We would also like to take this opportunity to say to those players who have missed out, to not give up on your dreams. Opportunities will always arise. We have selected a really balanced squad of experienced players who have played with distinction over a number of tests, and a group of young players with huge potential.
‘‘There’s been a real energy, professionalism and excitement coming from all the players involved. We want to win test matches, and we want to do it by performing well.’’
Have you seen that bloke lately, because I haven’t. He has reverted to type, to the surly, supercillious bully I first encountered at the 2003 World Cup. And it’s a shame, because the talent is there.
Hansen’s stale handling of the Richie Mo’unga situation tells you everything you need to know about the difference between the current All Blacks environment and the one at the Crusaders. In Crusaders country everyone is included and welcomed. Egalite, fraternite, liberte. The wives are on the pitch. The boys are their own men. And Scott Robertson brings his own joy and enthusiasm, the fuel that runs the engine.
The All Blacks seem mouldy in comparison. They are slipping back into their old hierarchies. And there is none so hierarchical as the head coach. Almost everything Hansen says about Mo’unga is snippy.
Last week Mo’unga was apparently made to look good by his pack, this week Hansen says it’s because he has Ryan Crotty, ‘‘one of the better talkers’’, outside him. You almost sense he wants the kid to fail because then Hansen can push on with his own vanity project, the Beauden Barrett man.
Before the Super final, Hansen said of Mo’unga, ‘‘He’s playing behind a Rolls-Royce pack, though. But, yeah, he is. He’s playing the way we’re expecting him to play behind a pack like that. It’s going to be really interesting to see how he does in a big game. It’s not a test match, but it’s probably the closest you will get to one without playing one.’’
It wasn’t interesting at all. It was inevitable. Mo’unga does those things every time he steps up a level. On his debut for Linwood he scored 32 points and a hat-trick of tries. He has guided Canterbury to three successive championships and was absurdly good in last year’s final. He has lost once in a Crusaders shirt in the past two years and that was at the Hurricanes when the ref had a howler.
If Hansen still had the open mind with which he came into the job, he would have taken Mo’unga on last year’s northern tour in a heartbeat. Even many of the players were astonished he was left out. So Mo’unga played against the All Blacks for the Barbarians, scored a try and outplayed Barrett who was eventually moved to fullback. If Hansen still had an open mind Mo’unga would have started the third test against the French in June.
Hansen is now banging on about experience and how everyone wanted him to leave out Dan Carter ahead of the last World Cup. Well, some of us didn’t actually. And Carter got that experience because the selectors had the guts to pick him as a 21-year-old. In 2005 Carter was starring against the Lions at the age of 23. Mo’unga is already 24.
Hansen says, ‘‘We have to build slowly with Richie and build his experience.’’
Why? You didn’t build slowly with Jordie Barrett and he’s not half the player. He came in at the age of 20 against the British and Irish Lions. But sometimes you wonder if Hansen treats the Barretts as if they were his own kids. I’m not convinced Jordie (or Nehe Milner-Skudder) should be in this squad, but it’s becoming increasingly hard to get dropped from the All Blacks, always the sign of a stagnating empire.
And all that guff about Mo’unga playing behind a RollsRoyce pack. They didn’t look so vintage against the Lions in the final and Mo’unga still made the big plays that turned the game. And what about Beauden? He repeatedly plays behind a RollsRoyce pack for the All Blacks and I don’t see him doing the things that Mo’unga does.
The double pump with which Mo’unga held the cover defence, followed by the accurate pass off his left hand to Seta Tamanivalu, is not in Barrett’s armoury. It’s the old business of playing square to the posts and having great hands with a clear head and a soft touch. Those are not Barrett’s strengths.
The All Blacks management need to open their minds again. Hansen needs to go back in time and remember how he felt back in 2012 in his All Blacks spring. Let’s hope we see Mo’unga start against Argentina in Nelson.