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Steve Hansen and the role of a leader

Roar Pro
20th August, 2014
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There's something slightly off kilter about the way the recording device scandal was played out. (Image: AFP)
Roar Pro
20th August, 2014
13
1071 Reads

Steve Hansen is a fine coach. Since becoming the Darth Vader and supreme commander of the All Blacks he has lost just the one match to England out of a total of 32 matches.

That sole blemish, a 38-21 loss in 2012 came after England had a superpower serving of scones, jam and tea for breakfast and were in fiery form. They slammed the darkness into their largest defeat since 1999, when the Wallabies blasted the All Blacks by a mighty 21 points in Sydney.

But even then, fate lent a hand by gently infecting the entire squad, bar two players, with the notorious norovirus. The norovirus is a particularly nasty little piece of RNA which is transmitted by touching another person. Which is pretty hard to avoid if you are a rugby player.

Lethargy, weakness, fever, headaches and power trips to the bathroom are not the perfect set of characteristics to possess when playing an away match in the heart of England.

So, unlucky Steve on that one.

Hansen possesses a large, impressive rugby brain squished down into an equally large body. He most certainly wasn’t tapped to be the overlord of the Darkness as a result of his warm media persona. He is, when interviewed, typically dull, monotone, cliche and un-engaging. Bland even.

Nor was he chosen for his fashion sense. He has an amazing and uncanny ability to look equally disheveled and crinkled in either a suit or a tracksuit. I am considering arranging a crowdfunding scheme to buy Steve an iron.

Graham Henry, by contrast, possessed an excellent media persona. That icy steel gaze that tore through any unprepared journo, and pity the one that asked a question of Ted that he might consider petty, inappropriate, rude or stupid. Ted didn’t suffer fools and would gladly rip your head off and eat your brains while they were still warm.

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But this is about Steve. And moreso, it is about Steve in the coaches’ box for Bledisloe 1, 2014. From the eagle’s nest, Steve has the best seat in the house (aside from the reserve bench). And he is equipped with a wired world of information flow and free internet, with live streaming. He is also flanked by awaiting generals in Ian Foster, Grant Fox and Brian McLean and an empty chair where Wayne Smith should be sitting.

Us couch-sitters, with our 50-inch, 3D curved screen TVs are prone to scream commands to our favoured teams and loudly question the ref. Due in part, because we suddenly possess the ability to understand rugby better than the best players in the world. But Steve is the only one that can actually make it happen.

With a simple verbal instruction from his chair, Steve can command a waterboy, who is typically not carrying water and is not in fact a boy, to run onto the field and deliver the whispered orders.

With 24 penalties conceded and 11 scrums, coupled with two yellow cards, almost every two minutes contained one of these events. And it was obvious early that Jaco Peyper was intent on being the most influential person on the rain drizzled park.

But the damning statistics for New Zealand were the mere 28 runs, 17 kicks and more than double the tackle count, meaning that when it came time to play actual rugby, the All Blacks were playing defence instead of offence.

Steve Hansen had a game plan to play the conditions, kick behind (and particularly short in-field kicks), make the Wallabies turn, put pressure on the ball gatherer and force a mistake. Make them run and tire them down.

Nice plan. I knew it. You knew it. The boys at the bar knew it. Grandma knew it. And so did the dog next door.

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But with long drawn-out scrums and resets, the Wallabies had time to regather. It took the pace out of the game. And with a growing penalty count it was time to change the plan. Go to Plan B. And you simply have to adapt to the ref. On several occasions, the All Blacks looked genuinely perplexed at Peyper’s rulings.

The players are not going to change the coach’s game plan that has been drilled into them. The only person that can do that is Steve.

It’s harder to be penalised when you’re the attacking team than when you are defending. On that, we fans would almost universally agree. And for 20 minutes, with a man down, you’re simply better off being the team with the ball in hand, rather than having a missing gap in the defensive systems.

With the rising penalty rate and with Peyper dominating events, Steve Hansen needed to take action to change what was happening on the field. To issue the instruction to retain more ball, rather than kicking away possession. He needed to alter the tactics. And that didn’t happen. This perspective was further reinforced this week when Ian Foster admitted, “We have go to attack better (sic) and our mind-set towards attack has got to be better”.

The only adjustment that seemed to occur mid-game to counter Peyper was the All Blacks’ defence sitting deeper, allowing the Wallabies to increase their phase count and hit-up with more space and confidence.

Steve obviously has good tactical sense and situational awareness to be aware when Plan A is not firing in real time. So where was the back-up plan? And the less said about the replacement of a settled Dane Coles in the best attacking position of the night, the better.

Often players will say that they did not adapt to the game when they lose. Is this not, ultimately, the coach’s responsibility?

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