Hansen happily ducks TMO controversy

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen put on his best sidestep around the television match officials but implored his team to embrace World Cup favouritism.

As far as the TMO is concerned, the shotgun will remain in the cabinet.

Two days in succession Hansen has been quizzed about whether officials will perform at this global tournament, with concerns building about them upstaging the on-field action.

Second time around the question carried extra weight following the opening match which ran for 103 minutes, due to excessive involvement from the TMO in England’s 35-11 win over Fiji at Twickenham.

For now, though, Hansen is keen to steer clear of the controversy. He believes, or hopes, the frequent use of the new technology would soon fade.

‘‘Someone tried to pass me a shotgun yesterday and there’s no point trying to pass me one today about the TMO stuff,’’ he said. ‘‘People will form their own opinions. You’ve only got to read what’s tweeted and what’s been said. There’s no point me jumping in on it. They’ll sort it out.

‘‘At the end of the day it’s obviously a new toy they’re playing with, Hawke-Eye, and people are getting a bit excited about it but it will calm down.’’

It was fitting, too, that ahead of the All Blacks first match against Argentina today, Hansen was far more willing to discuss the expectation and pressure on his team to create history.

With 90,000 expected to fill Wembley, home of England football, all eyes will be fixated on whether the All Blacks can carry the burden and live up to the hype.

Hansen didn’t attempt to shy away from the pre-tournament predictions. Quite the opposite, in fact.

‘‘I don’t think we should be afraid of the favouritism tag. It’s something we live with all the time anyway. We shouldn’t be afraid of the expectations because we get that all the time in the All Blacks. We’re expected to win every test match so there’s no more added pressure for us if you look at where we live all the time on the pressure scale.

‘‘There’s just a genuine excitement about trying to do something that every team coming to the World Cup wants to do and that’s try and win it."

Asked to assess his team’s journey over the past four years, in which time they’ve lost three games and drawn twice from 47 tests, Hansen was content with this arrival point.

‘‘Most of the things we’ve wanted to happen have happened. We’ve had some hiccups which is great to grow and understand. There’s been some guys that got injured along the way but that’s rugby.

‘‘We’ve turned up with a nice mixture of people with experience and excitement and enthusiasm and all of those guys are in good form.’’

After a standout performance at Eden Park, Hansen is confident that includes Dan Carter, who went through kicking practice alongside Beauden Barrett on Sunday morning at Wembley yesterday.

The All Blacks are constantly reminded they are yet to win a World Cup away from home. Their record is particularly poor in Europe in this arena where they lost a quarterfinal (2007) and two semifinals (1991 and 1999).

‘‘If we had that answer we wouldn’t be sitting here as an All Black side that’s never won a World Cup away from home,’’ Carter said. ‘‘That’s the challenge that’s ahead of us.’’