There’s no reason for Steve to leave Why lunch was on Beauden
‘‘Coaching is only part of it. You need a thick hide, a big personality and comfort at being the boss. It suits Hansen.’’
It’s easier to outline why Steve Hansen should leave the All Blacks job than understand why he would. By the time the next World Cup ends, Hansen will have been in charge as head coach for eight years, two terms that require even US presidents to pack their bags.
That length of tenure has encouraged some vague speculation about his successor – Ian Foster and Joe Schmidt are those most commonly mentioned – but there is something of the cart going before the horse here.
Until the All Blacks coach announces his decision to move on then, one question remains: why on earth would he?
The All Blacks are still progressing. Indeed, it looks like the British and Irish Lions tour in 2017 came a year too early for this crop.
Admittedly, the French and Wallabies provided patchwork resistance but you’d have to be on the churlish side not to see the improvements this year.
Some of it is simply being a year older. Could Ardie Savea have run over Agustin Creevy in 2017 in the way he did in Nelson last weekend? Was Damian Mckenzie ready to unleash his astonishing talents from the bench? Not quite.
But some of those gains must go down to Hansen and his team. Players are getting into the All Blacks and thriving. And so Hansen, seven years into the job as the big boss, is presiding over a side that is getting better and and can improve further still.
Why would you walk away from that? Why would you walk away from a team you think is still improving, from a group of players whose quality you never see the like of again?
Money? Surely those biscuits ads took care of that? The weather in the south of France? Possibly, but it’s a long way from the races.
Perhaps this is all irrelevant. Perhaps Hansen has given the nod to Steve Tew and is letting the NZ Rugby quietly go about securing his successor before making it all public.
Or perhaps it is the opposite. Perhaps Hansen would rather be carried out in a box than leave this job.
As a former coach of Wales he must be keenly aware how he has a position of power as a coach that other clipboard holders must look at with a mixture of envy and frustration.
He largely has mastery over the media, he has a strong relationship with his CEO and board and he has no rivals to speak of: Dave Rennie won two titles but saw no opening higher up and therefore went overseas.
Those set of circumstances are rare in professional sport. They may be unique.
There is something else about Hansen. This job he holds has a brutal set of demands.
Coaching, in fact, is only part of it. You need a thick hide, a big personality and comfort at being
They’re barely sighted in the competition these days but the All Blacks still keep a keen eye on the Mitre 10 Cup.
Loose forwards Sam Cane and Liam Squire revealed this week that in between preparation for their Rugby Championship matches, the players and coaching staff place bets with each other on who is going to win various provincial clashes.
Generally players stay loyal to their own province, which is why Taranaki’s Beauden Barrett is buying assistant coach Ian Foster, a Waikato stalwart, lunch this week, after Waikato took the Ranfurly Shield off Taranaki with their victory in New Plymouth last Sunday.
‘‘I think Fozzy and Beaudy had lunch on that Shield game on the weekend so Beaudy has to take Foz out for lunch,’’ said Cane, who revealed he had to cough up $20 when Bay of Plenty lost to Hawke’s Bay.
‘‘The Shield game was big. Everyone from those sides were crammed up watching it Sunday arvo and although Jordie [Barrett] hasn’t played for Taranaki, he was fuming,’’ Cane said.