- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Steve Hansen is one shrewd and cunning rugby coach. His record of 42 Tests as coach of the All Blacks for only two losses hasn’t come about by chance.
Sure, it’s fair to say that he’s been helped by having some handy cattle available to him, as well as strong systems and support within New Zealand rugby – plus a winning culture on which to build his own legacy.
But the man known as ‘Shag’ is also undeniably stamping his own mark on the All Blacks via his particular management style and tactical nous. And this week he has taken things a step further by launching a deceptively simple but brilliant new plan to ensure that his All Blacks retain the Rugby World Cup in England later this year.
Wales Online has this week released an interview with Hansen, where he expresses “serious concerns” about the state of modern day rugby, saying that it “lacks entertainment” and is in “desperate need of change.”
Hansen goes on further to say that action must be taken immediately lest thousands of floating new fans who tune into the World Cup will be subjected to “boring rugby.”
Hansen believes that too many coaches are risk averse, not wanting to play running rugby in fear of being knocked over behind the advantage line. And for this he blames coaches and players for taking their defensive strategies too far, at the expense of allowing attractive, running rugby.
As a concerned and educated observer, Hansen’s opinion should be valued and his comments and concerns appear to have plenty of merit. Everybody associated with rugby surely wants their showpiece to do justice to all of the attractive aspects of the sport. Any momentum gained as a result which attracts new spectators, players and sponsors can only be considered a positive.
However, as the coach of the short-priced favourite to win the Cup, Hansen’s comments can be interpreted differently. Akin say to Michael Cheika calling Queensland Reds coach Richard Graham this week and saying, “listen Rich, I’m really keen on Nick Frisby as my World Cup halfback, I need you to play him and leave Will Genia on the bench.”
So what exactly is Hansen up to? He may well have been bored silly by the slugfests that were Wales versus France and Ireland versus England last weekend, but is his main issue really that he wasted his time fronting up to both games because he didn’t get a buzz from more tries being scored?
One suspects not. And here’s how it works.
Imagine Ireland coach Joe Schmidt enjoying a couple of days of euphoria from his side’s solid win against the might of England. He knows that his game plan is simple but effective, built around incessant kicking for position, then backing his side’s strong defensive patterns, tackling technique and goalkicking.
Essentially this Ireland team are happy to play long periods of the game without the ball, and pick up penalties as a result of defensive pressure and opposition frustration.
However, by mid-week Joe has now read Hansen’s interview and sits down for dinner with a nagging feeling that yes, despite helping unite all of Ireland in delirious delight at flogging England, he is actually letting the game down.
As a result, at training tomorrow Schmidt will announce to his side a sudden change of tactics. “Guys, forget everything we’ve been working on for the last year, that’s only going to turn people off rugby and ruin it as a spectacle. Next week, we’re going to spin the ball. Play rugby as it should be played.”
Over at Wales training, Warren Gatland is telling his players exactly the same thing. Ditto Stuart Lancaster for England. “Shag is dead right fellas, winning isn’t everything, we have an obligation to the greater good of the game. The next bloke who kicks it will be peeling oranges and taking home the team jerseys to wash!”
But, I can hear you saying, surely that is all too simple? Hansen is neither too clever nor his opposition coaches too stupid to fall for that simple little trick.
Correct, and this is where the genius of Hansen’s plan shines through.
You see, Hansen already knows that Ireland, England and Wales in particular, are not really committed to playing an expansive game. It just isn’t in their DNA.
So he knows that for the remaining rounds of the Six Nations tournament, if they attempt this type of game, because his comments influence them into believing it is their duty to promote running rugby, they will do so reluctantly and uncomfortably.
The coaches will eventually wake up to themselves and come to the conclusion that, hang on, maybe Steve Hansen isn’t the altruistic swami he’s pretending to be, and is only tricking us into playing an open style which will help New Zealand win.
So, following the Six Nations, when all coaches retreat into their bunkers to prepare for the World Cup, expect all these sides to secretly revert to tactics to resurrect their kicking games. With once again satisfied coaches, knowing that they are doing the opposite to what Steve Hansen wants.
Meanwhile, in Shag land, Hansen knows that all of these sides do actually have the players with the ability to play attacking and expansive rugby against his All Blacks. And he knows that when they do, that is when his side is at its most vulnerable.
He knows that his two losses as All Blacks coach were at the hand of England and South African sides who, respectively, played a compelling brand of rugby, to some extent beating the All Blacks at their own game.
He will know also that Ireland is well equipped to challenge the All Blacks in this same regard – but only if they have the self-belief to use the ball and Test the All Blacks in every aspect, not if they revert to one dimensional football and rely too much instead on passion and spirit.
So to summarise, Steve Hansen may well be genuinely concerned about the image of the game, as indeed we all should be, regardless of our own opinions on game style.
But, make no mistake, he will be more concerned about winning the World Cup, and doing everything he can within his control to achieve that. Put simply, if sides choke up in the elimination phase and revert to repeatedly kicking the ball to Smith, Piatau, Savea, Dagg and co, and punching continually around the edges of the All Blacks’ forwards, the engraver may as well get to work right now.
Which doesn’t take into account any irony around the fact that Hansen himself is happy to play without the ball when it suits him. But that’s his choice, and he has the players to adapt to different styles if required.
On one hand Hansen is talking about “saving” rugby. One the other hand he is challenging opposing coaches to broaden their horizons and play more expansively against his side – knowing full well that none of them have the bottle to do it.
Which, in the end, suits him just fine.