HANSEN HAPPY TO PUT BOOT INTO LIONS
Kiwi coach: Is Gatland squad up to it?
STEVE HANSEN was in his element yesterday, finding a multitude of ways to heap pressure on the Lions after naming a formidable All Blacks squad for the Test series.
New Zealand still need captain Kieran Read and various other casualties to prove their fitness for the opener at Eden Park on June 24 — and they are already resigned to being without premier hooker Dane Coles.
But the host nation are confident and with good reason. Their Super Rugby teams are flying high, most of their players are in supreme form and their opponents-inwaiting from Britain and Ireland have run into early tour trouble.
Hansen was more than happy to turn the screw on the Lions once he had revealed the 33 men who have been chosen to take them on. In light of their unconvincing win over a collection of part-timers in Whangarei followed by a loss to the Blues, the Kiwi head coach emphasised the need to establish positive momentum.
‘That’s the thing you’ve got to keep an eye on,’ he said. ‘At some point you’ve got to start winning or people are going to start saying, “This isn’t working”. Is it necessary right at the moment? Probably not. The most important thing is that they create a squad of 41 people who feel they are all in it together — hence he (Gatland) wants to give everyone a game.’
When he was asked if he knows what these Lions are all about, based on what he has seen so far, Hansen’s response was intriguing as he said: ‘I don’t think they do. We find it hard moulding the five different franchise players but they’ve got four countries and some of the countries don’t like each other. That’s a task in itself. That takes time and energy.
‘It’s difficult for them coming here on a Wednesday and playing on a Saturday.
‘That’s an impossible task. I don’t know why they decided to do that, but they have. I think the schedule’s fine but maybe they could’ve got here a little bit earlier.
‘I don’t know whether that’s because commercialism took over from high performance. If it has then they should have argued more for high performance.’
In the aftermath of his side’s alarming defeat by the Blues — New Zealand’s lowest- ranked Super Rugby side — Gatland suggested that there wouldn’t be a gulf between the standard of the provincial teams and the All Blacks. Hansen was at pains to promptly dismiss that theory.
‘I just think he was trying a bit of humour after struggling a wee bit with his press conference before (when Gatland became agitated by talk of his ‘Warren-ball’ tactics),’ he said, mischievously. ‘I don’t think there’s any comparison between Super Rugby and Test rugby. I don’t know what his thinking is. Test rugby is a lot harder, faster and more physical, no matter what team you play for.’ On that basis, Hansen was not willing to grant the Lions the luxury of reduced expectation ahead of their next tour match against Super Rugby leaders the Crusaders here tomorrow.
In his view, as the international team against domestic opposition the tourists should win. Of course, by saying so he further intensified the pressure and the pressing need for a positive result to provide hope and belief.
‘I think it’s going to be a good contest but you would expect an international team to beat a franchise team, particularly one that is made up of the four home nations with their pick of the best players,’ he said. ‘But the Crusaders are full of confidence and they are full of All Blacks.
‘They are on a roll. Confidence is a big thing in sport. If you’ve got plenty of that you can do anything. As much as the Lions probably don’t have as much, if they win the game they will get a lot out of it. There’s a fair bit on the line for both teams.’
In the early stages of this tour, the Lions have repeatedly declared that they cannot defeat the world champions with brute force alone.
They have spoken of the quest for an X- factor. Hansen isn’t anticipating a sudden outbreak of such instinctively brilliant play from those in red here, although he won’t rule out seeing it happen at some stage. ‘I wouldn’t say I’m expecting that from what I’ve seen so far on this tour but if you look back at what those players are doing for their home unions, there is plenty of it,’ he said.
‘At the moment we’re not seeing a lot of it, because they were given an impossible task in the first game and in the second one, they still haven’t got it together.
‘In the Crusaders game, we’ll see a bit more of it, I think. That will be closer to their best side.’
Hansen’s own squad is awash with X- factor. More has been added in the shape of centre Jordie Barrett, who joins brothers fly-half Beauden and lock Scott in the All Black ranks. Never before
have three siblings been selected at the same time.
the head coach was asked about the family genes and said: ‘they’re not too bad, are they? if they were racehorses, their mum and dad would be worth a fortune!
‘All three of them have so much composure.
‘scotty came in last year in Chicago and, normally, most people find the All Blacks overwhelming when they first come in. But he just walked out like he owned the place. He wasn’t arrogant at all but he just immediately came in and looked really comfortable.’