Hansen happier but far from fully satisfied
Better, but there’s still plenty of work to do.
That was All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s assessment of his team’s Rugby Championshipclinching win against Argentina in Buenos Aires yesterday.
Hansen, having labelled his team’s game management nonexistent in their loss to South Africa a fortnight ago, got some improvement in the 35-17 bonus point win.
‘‘We were better. But you don’t go from nought to 100 straight away,’’ he said.
‘‘There will be some more learnings for us, but when you look at who was out there on the park at the end – it was a pretty young group – so you have to be pleased with how they coped with some of the pressure.
‘‘Our kicking was better, maybe not as accurate as we would like, but we kicked to the right places, and at the right times, a lot more than we did a couple of weeks ago.’’
After leaking five tries against South Africa, he gave the defence a pass mark, putting it down to players doing their job in a proven system.
‘‘At times we played some good footy and at other times we didn’t play that great. But you’ve got to give a bit of credit to Argentina, too, they’re a very difficult side to play against, particularly here,’’ Hansen said.
While the All Blacks were forced to scratch No 8 Luke Whitelock (illness) before kickoff, there was good news on the injury front in the immediate aftermath. Minus a few bumps and bruises, the All Blacks came through unscathed – welcome news ahead of next weekend’s humdinger against South Africa in Pretoria.
Hansen gave Ardie Savea a pat on the back for his performance, after stepping in for Whitelock at short notice.
Savea, who admitted flanker Sam Cane had to calm him down after some early flusters, played the full 80 minutes at No 8, chalking up 11 tackles and 60 metres on nine runs.
‘‘He was outstanding,’’ Hansen said. ‘‘Our scrum was outstanding and he controlled the ball at the back and won us a lot of penalties because of that control.’’
Playing without frontline props Joe Moody and Franks, lock Brodie Retallick, flanker Liam Squire, and Read, the All Blacks repeatedly melted the Pumas’ scrum.
Starting props Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Karl Tu’inukuafe started the rot, before replacements Tim Perry and Angus Ta’avao applied the blowtorch in the second half.
All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster admitted they targeted the area in preparation, while Hansen said loosehead Tu’inukuafe continued to impress.
‘‘He could become great. He certainly can scrum, he can lift in the lineout, and we’re starting to see other parts of his game, too, but he will be the first to tell you he isn’t the finished product. You go looking for nice coloured stones and you turn a wee rock over and under it there’s a diamond.
‘‘We just need to polish it up and get the full diamond.’’
‘‘At times we played some good footy and at other times we didn’t play that great.’’ Steve Hansen