NZ running on empty

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has called for a fourmonth off-season to avoid player burnout.

The All Blacks thumped Australia 37-20 in Yokohama on Saturday to complete a 3-0 Bledisloe Cup whitewash, but Hansen warned that players will continue to risk injury unless they get enough rest.

“They don’t get enough of a break,” he said on Sunday.

“You can’t keep going round and round and round without running out of petrol.”

New Zealand face 2019 World Cup hosts Japan in Tokyo next weekend before completing their five-match tour against England, Ireland and Italy.

But Hansen insisted he did not have the luxury of talking about their heavyweight clashes with England on November 11 and Ireland a week later with so many of his players running on empty.

“We’ve chosen to take it really one game at a time and not get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “But you can rest assured, we’ve got a lot of respect for England,” added Hansen.

“They’ve got one or two people injured at the moment, but so does everybody. That’s why I keep harping on about the need for a global season that looks after the players’ welfare.”

But the All Blacks have flown in 19 second-string players for this weekend’s Test with Japan to give some rest to their bighitters and allow them to fly to London later this week.

“The one thing I’d really want is that everyone gets 16 weeks break between gmes,” said Hansen. –

I keep harping on about a global season that looks after the players’ welfare