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Rugby fans are wondering why All Blacks coach Steve Hansen keeps having a crack at Wallaby coach Michael Cheika.
Hansen is a proud man, coaching the undisputed best rugby team on the planet by a binocular distance.
But last year, having comprehensively beaten the Wallabies 34-17 in the Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham, Cheika was named World Rugby’s Coach of the Year.
Inaugurated in 2001, the award has always been given to the Rugby World Cup winning coach.
England won in 2003, with coach Clive Woodward taking out the award, as well as being knighted.
The Springboks won in 2007, with coach Jake White the Coach of the Year
New Zealand won in 2011, with coach Graham Henry receiving the award, and a knighthood as well.
In 2015, the All Blacks became the first to win back-to-back Rugby World Cups, and the first to hoist ‘Bill’ three times. But Hansen was not only overlooked as Coach of the Year, he wasn’t knighted either.
A double whammy, especially as Hansen was named Coach of the Year in 2012, 2013, and 2014, in his first three years after taking the reins from Sir Graham.
And it hurt.
In 2015, Hansen coached the men in black to 11 wins from 12 starts, losing only to the Wallabies 34-17 at Stadium Australia, which cost his side the Rugby Championship.
But he won the Bledisloe and World Cups.
Cheika also coached the Wallabies for 12 Tests in 2015, winning ten and the Rugby Championship, but lost twice to the All Blacks – 41-13 at Eden Park to again lose the Bledisloe, and 34-17 in the World Cup final.
As delighted Wallaby fans were that Cheika won the coveted coaching award, any fair-minded rugby fan would have to agree Hansen was sawn off.
Little wonder Hansen got his two bob’s worth by suggesting Eddie Jones bullied Cheika out of the England-Wallaby three-Test series, with the Poms whitewashing their old rivals.
And you can bet Hansen will have more cracks at Cheika over the next week, with the two teams clashing on successive Saturdays at Stadium Australia and Eden Park.
Some will say Hansen is being petty, but I repeat: he’s a proud man – and justifiably so.
Not that the All Blacks need any incentive to beat the Wallabies, but they will always strongly support their coach.