Mind games before the real game
Steve Hansen’s final World Cup campaign continues to resemble a novella stacked with mysterious, and at times weird, adventures.
At various stages, before and during this tournament in Japan, All Blacks coach Hansen has adjusted selections to keep those outside his inner-circle of rugby friends guessing about starting XVs and game plans.
He’s done a terrific job of it, too. The general consensus among visiting Kiwi rugby supporters in the restaurants and bars in Tokyo before the World Cup semifinal against England in Yokohama tonight was that Hansen would retain the same run-on team that beat the Irish in the quarterfinal last weekend.
Not a chance. Hansen proved, once again, he’s anything but predictable.
Instead he decided to change his back row, for the fourth time in five games at this tournament, giving Scott Barrett, an athletic lock, his first test start at blindside flanker.
Openside flanker Sam Cane moved to the bench to accommodate Ardie Savea, a decision Hansen won’t have made lightly given the former has been his go-to No 7 since Richie McCaw retired after the 2015 tournament in Britain.
One can only imagine the look on England coach Eddie Jones’ face when he learned of Hansen’s latest radical selection.
Rather than persist with two flying flankers in Cane and Savea to counter the impressive duo of Sam Underhill and Tom Curry, the All Blacks’ decision to pick another accomplished lineout leaper in Barrett suggests they don’t want to compromise themselves in this set piece and require a bigger man to help carry hard against monsters such as No 8 Billy Vunipola.
Although the long-range forecast suggests the rain should clear ahead of kickoff, it has the potential to have ramifications.
In 2015, when the All Blacks met the Springboks in the semifinal in London, they tightened their attack as rain fell on Twickenham by sending grubbers behind the defensive line and the forward pack helped grind out a 20-18 victory.
Playmakers Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett could be under similar instructions tonight.
Not that Jones was going to admit he was surprised by Barrett’s move to No 6.
‘‘Look, we don’t control their selections mate,’’ Jones said. ‘‘Whatever they put out on the field, we know they are going to have a good team. We know they will have certain tactics where they will try to target us and we have to be good enough to cope with it.’’
Jones has made a switch of his own by bringing George Ford in to start at first five-eighth, who didn’t start in the win over the Wallabies in the quarterfinal in Oita, shifting captain Owen Farrell to second-five.
‘‘There’s a certain sort of game you have to have to play against New Zealand, and we’ve tried to incorporate that into our tactical armory. We were confident enough to think we would make the semifinals and feel we are well prepared for the game, mate.’’
Both coaches have been brave enough to back their instincts, and never have the stakes between the pair been so high.
Not that Jones, who says he began planning for this game from the moment he became England head coach almost four years ago, was going to let the week pass without adding his own weird touch to it.
His decision to say someone had filmed his team’s training earlier in the week was bizarre.
Sports coaches are often paranoid about spies, asking security guards to search around training venues for suspicious characters.
So when a coach raises the subject of spying, even if he doesn’t directly accuse the opposition, you can only assume he has raised it for a reason. On Thursday, however, Jones declared he was only having a ‘‘bit of fun’’.
All good, Eddie. But why raise the issue in a public forum, in a room full of reporters?
No-one can say it’s been a quiet week. The semifinal won’t disappoint, either.