Murray Kinsella reports from Wellington
ANYONE HOPING FOR a few more snipes at Warren Gatland from Steve Hansen would have been disappointed in Wellington today as the All Blacks coach criticised the New Zealand Herald for their ‘ridicule’ of the Lions boss.
Gatland was depicted as a cartoon clown on the cover of the newspaper’s sports section on Tuesday, something that Hansen said didn’t sit well with him.
The All Blacks boss stated his respect for Gatland and said that, despite the mini war of words between them in recent weeks, he hopes to share a beer with his counterpart when the Test series is done.
“I think it is really disappointing,” said Hansen of the clown cover. “It’s one thing to have a bit of banter, and then you guys [the media] beef it up to make it bigger than it really is. I have heard you say that I don’t like him, and we won’t have a beer.
“I have got a lot of respect for him, I think he is a good coach. I have got a lot of respect for the Lions, they are a good team.
“To come out and do that, you are ridiculing somebody that doesn’t deserve it. At the end of the day, we are all coaches trying to do what we think is right. Sometimes people don’t always agree with what we do, but that’s okay – you are allowed to have your opinion.
But to ridicule someone is not right. It’s a bit disappointing, really.”
Having named his All Blacks team for the second Test, showing two injury-enforced changes as Waisake Naholo and Anton Lienert-Brown come in, Hansen stressed that he has no grudge against Gatland.
“I read somewhere where I lashed out at Warren Gatland,” said Hansen. “I haven’t lashed out at Warren Gatland at all. I have got a lot of respect for him, I am looking forward to having a beer with him and a chuckle about life.
“We’ve got a lot of common interests. He likes racing horses, so do I. He coaches Wales, I’ve been through that experience myself. It’s the media that ramp it up because it sells you guys newspapers.”
After Gatland’s implication that the All Blacks may have been attempting to deliberately injure Conor Murray in the first Test by targeting his standing leg as the Irishman kicked, some of the New Zealand media today attempted to stir up more controversy.
Hansen was asked about two incidents in the first Test, the first involving Mako Vunipola supposedly taking Lienert-Brown out of the game off the ball and, rather bizarrely, a second in which the Lions loosehead allegedly grabbed Owen Franks’ testicles.
Hansen had no time for the enquiries, however, and said he would not be changing the All Blacks’ policy of letting the match officials and citing commissioners deal with any illegal play.
“There’s no point dragging stuff up,” said Hansen. “What happens on the park is adjudicated by a guy who is connected to the ref, and they are doing a pretty good job of making the game a lot cleaner than it was in yesteryear and we’ve got citing commissioners now.
“If they don’t see it, move on. It’s a hard game we play, and there are going to be times when people unintentionally step over the line and do something they might regret later.
“That’s been happening for ages – you only have to look at what happened in the game on Tuesday night with Iain Henderson.
“It was very reminiscent of what happened to Brian O’Driscoll [in 2005]. I am just pleased he just got a yellow card and nothing else because he didn’t do it intentionally. But in the heat of the moment, his skills at the breakdown to clean him out have not been right, so he’s paid the price with 10 minutes in the bin. Move on from it.
“I don’t know any rugby players that we’ve played against or I’ve coached that intentionally go out there [to hurt an opponent]. There’s a guy that does that [cites players], let him take care of it.
“Rugby is a big boys’ game, played by big boys and people with character.
“When we get emotionally involved in it as coaches then we’ve got to take a big breath and say, ‘Is this the type of bloke or team that would intentionally do that?’
“Then you [the media] need to take a deep breath and say, ‘I know that wasn’t right, but are they a team who would intentionally do that or are they emotionally in a place where they just made a mistake?’
“I think a lot of the drama that comes with some of these incidents would actually calm down a bit and we’d get them dealt with in a better way.”
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