EVEN AS STEVE Hansen makes his way out of the firing line of questions, there is still time for his dry sense of humour to come to the fore. “Have a good weekend,” he says, with a wry smile, before delivering the punch line: “Unless you’re Irish.”
The All Blacks coach knows it’s a big weekend. His side dare not lose back-to-back Test matches. He has already installed Ireland as pre-match favourites ahead of Saturday’s Test at the Aviva Stadium. The very definition of mind games.
The world champions are on edge. They’ve been chomping at the bit all week, desperate to renew battle lines and go some way to avenging that defeat in Chicago. On that day, his players ‘let the All Black history’ down.
There is tension in the air. Both players and management have spoken about a ‘nervousness’ in camp all week. When was the last time the All Blacks coach made the opposition favourites, even if the bookies and history would suggest otherwise?
What we do know is that the last time New Zealand suffered consecutive defeats to the same opposition was back in 2009. Victories for South Africa at Bloemfontein, Durban and Hamilton.
“We weren’t sitting here laughing about it but history tells us it can happen,” Hansen says. “You just have to go out and prepare the best you can and go and deliver a performance you can be proud of.
“If the opposition are better than you on the day then you have to accept that. We don’t have any God given right to win every game of rugby but what we do know is that if our attitude is right and we prepare right then we’re going to be hard to beat.
“The other team has to do the same and if that’s good enough, we’ll accept that and move on to the next game.”
Whether Hansen accepted the level of performance in Chicago is questionable. The week began with an honest review session inside their Castleknock Hotel base where the management and staff picked through the 40-29 defeat.
It was a display riddled by a string of uncharacteristic errors and New Zealand’s indiscipline allowed Ireland to stamp their authority on the game and forge an early, and unassailable, lead.
The return of Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick is a major boost for the visitors as their formidable second row partnership will add power and aggression in the trenches, but Hansen insists he needs to see improvement across the board.
“If everyone does their core roles, whether it’s a lineout in the breakdown or in defence that should fix our performance and take it to a far better level than it was,” Hansen added.
“Whether that’s good enough again we’ll see again on Saturday. When you make 16 unforced errors out of 21, that’s something you’ve got to fix. 12 out of 12 penalties were avoidable. You expect to get a couple but 12 out of 12, you’re on the money on an off day if you’re giving them 12 out of 12.
“They’re going to kick into the corners, driving mauls. They scored two tries off that. You are giving them what they want so you have got to avoid that.”
Both Hansen and his assistant, Ian Foster, have been reluctant to talk much about game plans in the build-up and have avoided going into specifics about what they expect Joe Schmidt will do this time around.
“I’m sure he’ll have a trick or two up his sleeve other than just his arm,” Hansen remarked, that sense of humour evident again.
“I’m sure he’ll have a trick there. He enjoys coming up with, that’s his coaching style he likes to analyse the opposition and try and open you up and he’s pretty good at it. Again we have to go out and do our jobs well and that starts with the set-piece both for our ball and their ball and try and take away their time so they don’t have as much as in Chicago to make the right decisions.
“I think he’s [Schmidt] got them playing smarter rugby, Ireland to me have always been a passionate nation both on and off the park. They’re always good at getting behind a cause. They’re good people, I’ve a lot of time for them and enjoy their company.
“As rugby players I think they’ve improved their fitness and an understanding of how to play and why to do thinks and I think Joe has been a big part of that. Their whole coaching staff are challenging them to understand why and how and when. They’re not big words but pretty important when it comes to a game of footy and making big decisions.
“They’re making better decisions therefore the opposition who they’re playing whoever it may be has to do the same.”
Now it’s time for Hansen’s All Blacks to respond.
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