If Hansen gets his way the All Blacks will be racing certainties...
Coach targets the winning post with his New Zealand thoroughbreds
STEVE HANSEN used to dream of being a jockey and racing remains a favourite hobby. The New Zealand coach believes a background in training horses has helped him prepare his thoroughbreds in black to strive for immortality.
‘We are dairy farmers but my dad was a horse owner-trainer,’ he says.
‘My mum and dad have passed away, but I’ve still got an interest in horse racing, which I love. It is a passion of mine. Probably if I hadn’t got into rugby I would have gone into racing.
‘When I was younger I used to ride a lot and I wanted to be a jockey, but I outgrew that! I just love horses — they are a great animal and can teach you a lot. Animals have great perception, particularly horses.
‘Horses and rugby players have similar characteristics. The horse tells you a lot and you get a lot of feedback. What the horse will do, because they can’t speak, is give off signs that you can look for.
‘If you learn that skill, then come in to deal with players, who talk to you, then if you ask the right questions you can get to where you need to be a lot quicker. It’s what they don’t say sometimes, or what they do say and how they say it.’
In the quest to understand how his All Blacks are on the cusp of achieving their objective of becoming the ‘most dominant team in the history of the world’, it is important to grasp what makes the man in charge tick.
One intriguing aspect of the former Canterbury centre’s background is his playing stint in France and what he took from it.
Hansen spent 18 months at La Rochelle and he absorbed elements of the Gallic way of life, which he has integrated into the life of the All Blacks. While the French have often been cast as a nation who pose a menacing, unpredictable threat to Kiwi supremacy, they have also inadvertently contributed to New Zealand’s collective bond.
‘I loved it there, it was a great time for me,’ he says. ‘I loved how they live their lives as a family. The family life is brilliant, with the kids, mum and dad all sat around the table together. Maybe our society has moved away from that a bit and we are always sat in front of the TV, so we brought things back.
‘I love the way they greet each other in the morning and last thing at night. When I came back… my father was not a man who was comfortable being kissed, but I would shake his hand every day when I first saw him. That has filtered right through into this team. We all shake hands when we first see each other. It’s like we’re being a family.’
This emphasis on the family is another central plank of Hansen’s outlook. Given the stifling pressure of his role as the head coach of the sport’s premier team, there has to be a release-valve. He finds it in the simplicity of everyday existence at home, where he is happily not in charge.
‘My regular outlet is normality; my family,’ said the man who was part of Graham Henry’s 2011 World Cup-winning coaching team, before taking the top post.
‘I work hard at trying to take one hat off and putting another one on. Because I’m away so much, my wife is the CEO at home and that’s great. I can just come back, fit in and be normal old Steve. On tour, everything is done for you. You come home and you start doing the dishes again or going to the supermarket or doing the washing, and chores become quite good to do because you haven’t done them for so long.
‘We have four teenage children and two adult children between us.
New Zealand have never lost a World Cup pool
match
The teenagers have their own things going on in life and they bring their own challenges. That creates a sense of normality.
‘One of the things we try to do as a rugby team is keep things pretty simple. It is just a game. It is important and we love winning, but it is just a game. There are a hell of a lot more important things in the world and in life than this rugby team. This should be a place to come and enjoy ourselves; it shouldn’t be a burden.
‘But, of course, there is pressure. We are expected to win every game. People who say they don’t feel pressure are talking bulls***. We all feel it. No one is immune to pressure. It is how we deal with it that counts. It’s not all doom and gloom. We like to laugh.’
The notion of dominant Kiwis laughing their way to another world title will terrify the other leading nations. Hansen’s men have largely swept aside all-comers since he succeeded Henry and i n 2013 they achieved the distinction of becoming the first country to go through a calendar year with a 100 per cent record.
They are driven by an urge to conquer uncharted territory.
‘As everyone knows, we wanted to be the most dominant side in history,’ said Hansen. ‘We didn’t feel like that is something we could say we did, but if we strove to do it, others might.
‘We are trying to do things that no one has done before. The World Cup is a classic example. No one has won back-to-back World Cups. No All Black side has ever even been in the final of a European World Cup.
‘While we might go in as favourites, there are a lot of things we have to do for the first time to achieve our goals. Setting big challenges is important, particularly when you’ve been on top for a long time. If you don’t you will flatten out.
‘We don’t want to plateau; we want to be better all the time. We may never achieve that but it gives us something to strive for.’
There is no time for triumphalism, as Hansen added: ‘We don’t sit back, reflect and think, “Yeah, look at us”. We’ve still got a lot to do. If we can get better then that might keep us in front of everybody else because that’s what they’re trying to do.
‘They are trying to improve and if we sit still and bask in the glory of what we’ve done in the past, another team will drive on by.’
For all the challengers hoping to knock the Kiwis off their perch, the idea they can keep improving does not bear thinking about. But for Hansen, there is an acute awareness that World Cups tend to be a time when the chasing pack close the gap. He is certainly not in danger of complacency. ‘In World Cups the other teams are as desperate as we are,’ he said. ‘Maybe some teams aren’t as desperate in between years, because they don’t have the same expectations put upon them that we have.
‘But at this World Cup, there is an expectation England will win, because they are at home. There is an expectation Australia will win, regardless of how they’ve been playing and there is an expectation on Wales because they’ve been going pretty well. Ireland have been doing well in the Six Nations, so they will have a lot more expectation on them, too. ‘Then you look at sides like France, who have a magnificent World Cup history. Because of a higher expectation, they seem to get it together. It’s a big prize. It is the Olympics for rugby and that brings out more from other people.
‘One team can be cruising but all of a sudden, one bad day and it’s “See you later”. That opens the door for everyone else. We’re not looking at it as if we’re already in the final. If we do that we’ll get beaten.’
Hansen’s thoroughbreds are the runaway favourites to reclaim the Webb Ellis Cup and given their remarkable record, their close bond and determination to enjoy their work, there is little to suggest they will fall before the winning post.
Their 145 points against Japan in 1995 is the most ever in a WC fixture