‘Great tour’ apart from that ‘annoying itch’ in Dublin
No matter what Steve Hansen does during his looming break, losing to Ireland in Dublin last weekend will badger him all summer.
But that didn’t stop the All Blacks coach from hailing the northern tour a ‘‘great tour’’ for his side, after they thumped Italy 66-3 in Rome yesterday.
He concedes that might go down like dishwasher water with some but Hansen argues the lessons learnt during it and the year, they finished with a 12-2 record, put them in good stead ahead of the World Cup in Japan next year.
‘‘Possibly we will get them [Ireland] at some point in the World Cup, if we go far enough. That will be a great challenge for us. It will also be an annoying itch that we won’t get to scratch until we play them, and I know that will make us a little hungrier,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘It’s always good when you go to the table hungry. You get to eat a bit more than you normally would if you’re full. You won’t win the World Cup unless you’re hungry, and you can deal with the pressure of it.’’
Now that the All Blacks have wrapped up 2018, they’ve got just three Rugby Championship games, a second Bledisloe test, and a match against Tonga in Hamilton, before their World Cup opener against South Africa next September.
Judging by Italy’s meek showing yesterday, they’re unlikely to challenge the All Blacks during pool play, meaning the game against the Boks will almost certainly decide the winner of their pool.
Hansen and his assistants sure have plenty to ponder before it comes to that, including the make-up of the midfield, whether or not they stick with the dual playmaker ploy, and the make-up of their outside backs.
‘‘We’ve found some young players who have really challenged some of the senior players and put their hands up and said ‘hey, we’re here’. Now we will go back and really solidify our thinking and our selections and where we will go to next,’’ Hansen said.
In addition to the Ireland game fuelling the All Blacks down the road, the 16-15 win against England at Twickenham was another valuable gift on tour, Hansen said. ‘‘We’ve played England in the rain, they wouldn’t have got better conditions to play us in. They got a 15-point head start and we came back and won that game.
‘‘I think we showed a lot of mental fortitude and calmness. It was a real test for the leadership group. They came through that well. Obviously Kieran [Read] leads that, so a big tick there.’’
There was also an emphatic pass mark for blindside flanker Vaea Fifita on the back of his performance against Italy.
Fifita, not selected for the
Rugby Championship, made all 11 of his tackles, and notched 60 metres on five carries.
Hansen labelled it a ‘‘complete performance’’, and was particularly pleased with the way he led the line speed and hammered the Azzurri runners behind the advantage line.
Captain Read, who received heavy criticism after last week’s loss, had the last say.
‘‘I think every team we play
plays their best game of the year against us and that’s something to learn from. It comes from experience and we’ve got guys that are relatively new to the stage and have learnt a lot from those situations.
‘‘I think we’re in a pretty good spot right now. We’ve got a squad which is capable of a lot.’’