Hansen’s fury at Kiwi reporter

ALL BLACKS coach Steve Hansen offered to take a Kiwi journalist outside after being angered by his line of questioning.

The double World Cup-winning coach, who is stepping down at the end of the tournament, was furious when asked if his players turned up with the wrong attitude.

‘I think it’s quite a disrespectful question, to suggest that the All Blacks turned up not being hungry,’ he said.

‘They’re desperate to try and win the game. Because I asked them at half-time to get hungrier doesn’t mean to say they didn’t up for the game. There’s a big difference and if you want to spend some time outside I’ll give you a rugby education on that one.

‘But to turn up and say an All Blacks team comes to a semi-final of the Rugby World Cup with the amount of ability and the history that it’s had behind it — to say that’s not hunger. That’s a pretty average question, I reckon.’

With Hansen going, the All Blacks now face a tough decision appointing his successor. Assistant coach Ian Foster was next in line but New Zealand’s performance yesterday will not help his case for an internal appointment.

Hansen admitted his side were outmuscled but claimed the hurt will act as a fuel for the future.

‘They had guys who were prepared to throw their bodies at our boys,’ added Hansen (right). ‘They created the go-forward in the game. We struggled to dominate at breakdown time. When you are going forward you get all the 50-50 decisions. That is not an excuse but it just happens. I think that the detail of the match didn’t go our way but our workrate and how much we really wanted it was there. You could see it even in that first half when we conceded, we came back and hung in there. ‘Tonight is pretty gutting. When it doesn’t go your way it’s a hard thing to take. ‘They are a good team and there is no shame being beat but there is a lot of hurt. That adversity will feed a lot more All Blacks teams in the future so we’ll find one positive out of it.’