Big Billy back in line to face the All Blacks
New Zealand legend STEVE HANSEN on his Jones love-in, rugby’s head injury crisis. . . and writing off the All Blacks at your peril
BILLY VUNIPOLA has been primed for a recall to England’s pack for Saturday’s showdown with the All Blacks at Twickenham.
Eddie Jones will name his line-up tomorrow for the highlight of the autumn campaign, as England seek a second straight victory over New Zealand, three years after the epic World Cup semi-final win in Yokohama.
Vunipola started the narrow defeat by Argentina this month, before Sam Simmonds took over at No 8 for the visit of Japan. Now the pair may be unleashed in the same back row, along with Sale flanker Tom Curry. If that plan is activated, it would mean Maro Itoje reverting to lock alongside Jonny Hill.
Giant Bath wing Joe Cokanasiga is out after suffering an ankle injury against Japan.
STEVE HANSEN cuts a relaxed figure as he looks out pensively over Lake Wanaka. The bright sun of a beautiful New Zealand spring morning reflects off the water. In the distance, the clouds above Mount Alta kiss its snow-covered peak. Dressed in a sleeveless shirt, former All Blacks head coach and double World Cup winner Hansen admits he is enjoying semi-retirement. Who can blame him?
In years gone by, Hansen would have been spending this time of year in Europe with New Zealand, more often than not wiping the floor with the best northern hemisphere rugby has to offer. Now, things are different. Hansen’s days are spent playing golf and indulging in his passion for horseracing. He is a part-owner of superstar gelding and Royal Ascot winner Nature Strip.
Life is peaceful in Wanaka. ‘It’s hard not to enjoy this place,’ Hansen tells Sportsmail. ‘Am I missing the All Blacks? You miss the camaraderie of the players and staff and you miss the big occasions, but I don’t miss the politics. I’m quite happy to be out of that. My coaching days are over — 20 years is enough, isn’t it?’
Hansen might be away from the front line, but remains one of the game’s heavyweight figures. When Hansen speaks, people listen.
Over an hour at Upper Clutha Rugby Club, the 63-year-old is not afraid to tackle his sport’s big issues. The concussion crisis, the growing influence of private equity, his old sparring partner Eddie Jones and Saturday’s clash between England and New Zealand — everything is on the table.
‘The game is at a crossroads,’ he says. ‘ I’m not slow in letting people know my opinion and sometimes that gets me into trouble. I’ll probably get into trouble with World Rugbyugby by saying red cards aren’tn’t the answer, but that’ss what I believe.
‘If I believe in it, then I’m going to fight for it. The game is more important than all of us and we’ve got to keep it alive and safee for the people playing it.t. I don’t want to paper overver the problems. I want to rip the wall down and rebuild it.’
Hansen spent 15 years with the All Blacks, seven of which came as head coach. His penultimate game in charge was a 2019 World Cup semi-final defeat by England. The success remains a highlight of Jones’s reign and England will face New Zealand for the first time since that Yokohama game at Twickenham on Saturday.
‘Are England good enough to win the World Cup next year? They certainly are. They were just about good enough to win it last time,’ says Hansen, who has ruled himself out of succeeding Jones and believes Leicester’s Steve Borthwick should be appointed.
‘Eddie is a great coach. You only have to look at the teams he’s coached and how they’ve always improved. England jointly hold the world record with the All Blacks for 18 wins in a row. You don’t do that without being a good team and a good coaching crew. ‘ He’s not shy on experimenting and that’s sometimes seen as nuts by people in England. But people have to understand that if you want to build depth, you have to throw caution to the wind sometimes.
‘Eddie doesn’t tolerate fools too well and he’s short sometimes. Some people don’t like that but I’ve always found him great. England would be so much stronger if their clubs and the RFU could work together to look after the top players physically. They ask them to do a lot and they pay them a lot for it, but b you have to look after the old goose that lays the egg. Otherwise, it’ll stop st laying.’
After a season dominated n by financial chaosc at club level and the disappearance of two sides in Worcester and Wasps, English E rugby is in a state sta of flux. The goose might migh not have totally stopped stoppe laying, but it certainly has its problems.
Victory for Jones’s men over the All Blacks would be a muchneeded fillip for England after two underwhelming Six Nations campaigns and a poor autumn opening defeat by Argentina. There is now less than a year to go until the next World Cup in France. The countdown is on.
‘The big difference with this World Cup is the All Blacks aren’t the No 1 dog in the house at the moment. It will take pressure off them,’ adds Hansen, who still works as a part-time consultant for Japanese side Toyota Verblitz.
‘However, it will put a lot more on the other teams. Ireland are No1 at the moment. Their World Cup record isn’t great. They’ll be feeling that. France are at home. Their World Cup results haven’t been great. They’ll be feeling a lot of pressure. That pressure is just going to build.
‘England have had some success. They’ve been in three finals and won one and lost two so they’ll be beginning to think they’ve got to win another one.’
During Hansen’s stint with New Zealand, initially working under Sir Graham Henry and then as head coach, the All Blacks were the game’s dominant force. They won back-to-back World Cups in 2011 and 2015.
Now, under the guidance of Hansen’s former right-hand man Ian Foster, New Zealand’s aura of invincibility has slipped somewhat. They lost a series at home to Ireland during the summer. But since then, their response has been impressive.
‘Not being No 1 creates a hunger and being hungry at a World Cup is good,’ says Hansen. ‘Success dulls hunger. In 2007, we feared whether we had the hunger to win. After such a poor result, everyone was so hungry to be successful and we won the next two.
‘Going into this one, we’re not the current champions. We’ve had some adversity in the last 12 months, which is tough to take but also helps build a team that wants to prove to everybody they can still do it. New Zealand are going to be dangerous — more so than some people think.
‘Ian is definitely the right man for the job. What tells me that is the players wanted him to stay. I worked with him for eight years and he’s a very smart rugby brain.
‘New Zealand have won every cup
they could win except the series with Ireland and they are No 1 in the world at the moment. They’re starting to build an understanding quite nicely.’
Hansen will always hold the All Blacks close to his heart. But, regardless of country, he is a rugby man first and foremost. He believes there are a number of ways his sport can improve not only its safety, but the attractiveness of the product. Hansen is of the view referees issuing a spate of red cards for head contacts is putting the cart before the horse. Coaching players how to improve their tackle technique and better anticipate an opponent’s next move are instead areas he thinks must be addressed. Perhaps most drastically, Hansen would also remove the TMO altogether to quicken up a game which has become too stop-start. ‘It’s hugely worrying what they’re going through,’ Hansen says of the former players involved in legal action against World Rugby after their diagnoses of early- onset dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Hansen coached Alix Popham and Carl Hayman — who are both fighting significant head injury problems — with Wales and the All Blacks respectively. ‘ We have to take some responsibility for how we can fix those problems — change techniques, change attitudes, and change our ability to anticipate what’s going to happen next. We need to put a lot of time and effort into that. We can change some laws. ‘If we do that, we’ll go a long way to fixing some of the problems. We are in a better place than we were 20 years ago. If you got a knock on the head then, it was like a badge to be able to say you played on. That’s not the case now. You look back on some things you’ve seen and you think, “Wow — did we do the right thing?” Prior to coaching, I saw some horrific things.
‘At the time you’d think, tough b****r, but he was really a silly b****r and the game didn’t have the systems in place to protect him from himself. We do now and that’s a big plus.’
THe son of dairy farmers, and someone who spent six years working in the New Zealand Police, Hansen has seen rugby go from an amateur sport to professional. His experience is huge.
That is why he has followed with interest the impact of private equity investment on the sport he loves. The tentacles of financial big hitters now permeate all corners of rugby. CVC Capital Partners have stakes in the Six Nations and the Premiership. In June, New Zealand Rugby approved a £100million deal with US-based private equity firm Silver Lake, despite initial reluctance from the All Black players.
‘If you look at the financial side, there are a lot of people hurting. No one is making enough money to pay the wages,’ says Hansen. ‘The only people making money are World Rugby. Silver Lake came in just after I left.
‘What I experienced in the time I was there was that the commercial side of the business was starting to be more important than the high-performance side. We’re in trouble when that happens.
‘I understand they have to do something because the game has got itself in a situation where market prices are excessive and we need money.
‘But who has control? Are we putting the money side first or the rugby side? The people who are putting the money up will argue they don’t want to interfere with the rugby. But they do.
‘They can tell you whatever they like but they’re not there to be anybody’s friend. They’re there to make money. It was one of the things that frustrated me with the All Blacks in the end.
‘We were starting to go way too far with the commercial side. I don’t have a problem with people coming in and making their money and then moving on, as long as they don’t destroy the ethos of the game and the sport. That’s what we need to be really smart about with the All Blacks. You’ve got to be careful you don’t go too far.’
After tackling rugby’s biggest issues and posing for the camera, Hansen bids farewell. His next meeting is a talk with struggling local teenagers who have lost their way. You can imagine Hansen’s no-nonsense police background quickly helping to set them back on the right path.
‘Be kind to me,’ he says as he leaves. Rugby has certainly been kind to Hansen. The sport is poorer without him on centre stage.