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Former Australian boss hits back at Steve Hansen's 'absurd' claims
An Aussie strongman has finally hit back at Sir Steve Hansen, and he hasn’t missed.
The former All Black coach claimed last week that New Zealand owed Australia nothing as the two countries set about creating new competitions post-Super Rugby.
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But Hansen’s lingering resentment over the 2003 World Cup co-hosting rights debacle has been torn to shreds by former Australian rugby boss John O’Neill who said the great All Black coach should “stick to his day job”.
O’Neill let rip with both barrels, inferring that “one of Hansen’s best friends” had to wear some of the blame for New Zealand losing the 2003 tournament. And he described the re-opening of this particular wound, so far down the track, as “absurd”.
The influential O’Neill has also advised Australia to go it alone in a bid to host the 2027 World Cup, rather than farm out some pool matches to New Zealand.
Current Aussie chairman Hamish McLennan has been diplomatic over Hansen’s belligerent words, but that was never O’Neill’s style.
O’Neill said the NZRU had stuffed it up in 2003, and a report by former New Zealand Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum proved it.
“I’ll paraphrase the conclusions; the NZRU shot themselves in the foot,” O’Neill told the Sydney Morning Herald.
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“Rugby World Cup and the International Rugby Board had particular conditions about clean stadia and you either had to comply or lose the hosting rights.
“Yes, the terms and conditions for hosting may well have been onerous…but in our language, like it or lump it. New Zealand Rugby – through arrogance and hubris – thought they could force the IRB and World Rugby to change the rules. They didn’t.
“Judge Eichelbaum’s words about me were that I did no more than act in the best interests of Australian rugby.
“New Zealand Rugby at the time got rid of the board who stuffed it up. They got rid of the CEO [David Rutherford], [chief operating officer] Steve Tew stayed on and later in 2007 became CEO. Steve was No. 2 to David Rutherford and he remains one of Steve Hansen’s best friends.
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“Steve Hansen can make as many comments about rugby as he wants…in this case he was not in the vicinity and it’s a part of the game he wouldn’t know anything about.”
O’Neill said Hansen’s claim that 2003 showed how Australia let New Zealand down “didn’t stack up”.
New Zealand was officially the 2003 sub-host and the agreement became null and void because the NZRU crossed out clauses it didn’t like.
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O’Neill was amazed that New Zealanders were still apparently upset by the 2003 controversy.
“It’s absolutely absurd. Move on,” he said.
“Brinkmanship only gets you so far.
“It would be foolish to say Steve Tew and I had a close relationship. It was a particularly sensitive matter for Steve, not for me, and it is what it is. You can’t re-write history to serve your own purpose.”
O’Neill said the success of the 2003 World Cup relied heavily on all the games being played in Australia, and they should repeat that formula for 2027.
“It’s ours to lose,” he said.
“I wish Hamish every success in the world. I’m available for a conversation at any time.”
Meanwhile, McLennan told the Australian: “This is a moment in time and we will rebuild Australian rugby and at some stage in the future we will repay the favour to New Zealand.”
The implication is that if New Zealand was more accommodating of Australian teams in a post-Super Rugby competition, it would allow the All Blacks to host its pool round in the 2027 World Cup.
Comments on RugbyPass
Who got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
11 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
11 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
1 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
135 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
11 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
11 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
135 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
135 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
5 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
135 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
11 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
11 Go to comments