'It's all happened so fast': Jamie Hannah reacts to last-minute All Blacks call-up

The All Blacks may have named only two debutants in their first matchday team of the year, but three took the field after reserve lock Patrick Tuipulotu was a last-minute scratch with a tight calf.

The veteran lock wasn’t an active participant in captain’s run on Friday, offering an early indication that there would be a late call on his fitness for the game.

Hannah wasn’t named in Dave Rennie’s official squad but joined as injury cover for Tupou Vaa’i. As he revealed shortly after a 12-minute showing off the bench, the call came at midday.

“It’s all happened so fast, so there hasn’t been much processing time to be fair. I only found out I was in at lunchtime,” he told reporters in Christchurch.

“I got an idea (of Tuipulotu’s injury) yesterday at captain’s run, and then it got confirmed this morning. In a way, it was good, just getting straight in there and straight out to get into it. It was unreal.”

The Crusaders lock, who hails from the small rural town of Oxford in North Canterbury, said he wouldn’t have dreamt of his first All Blacks cap coming in his home province, with Saturday’s Test the first in Christchurch’s long-awaited new stadium.

“The chances of it all lining up were pretty unreal. All of my friends and family already had tickets. It’s been an unreal last few hours.

“Like every young kid in New Zealand, it was a childhood dream (to play for the All Blacks). And to get the chance to do it in front of my friends and family was unreal.”

The 23-year-old said he expected “skill execution” to be the team’s big area for improvement ahead of next week’s clash with Italy in Wellington, with that being the message from the coaches at halftime as well.

“It felt like we were creating opportunities but just weren’t clinical enough,” he said.

On the whole, Hannah said his first Test match experience was expected: fast and physical.

“It was good out there, fast under the roof, and it was pretty physical. But I think the margin for error is just a bit finer in international rugby. That’s probably the main difference.”

In attack, the All Blacks’ 13 turnovers came from rapid play that lacked the aforementioned execution, but that pace also produced five tries.

“That’s the way we want to play this year, so using the ball and keeping it alive and playing into that unstructured defence,” Hannah said.

On the flip side, conceding four tries and 12 linebreaks left something to be desired defensively.

“I think a bit of it was around our collision, trying to be a bit more dominant there to buy us a bit more time to get set. So it was a bit of a snowball effect.”

Rennie revealed the timeline behind Tuipulotu’s injury and spoke on Hannah’s performance postgame.

“Patty’s injury is very minor. We didn’t run him in the captain’s run yesterday. We thought he’d be ok, but even doing calf raises , it was a bit tight. We’re confident he’ll be right for next week.

“It was awesome for Jamie, we sat him down around midday and let him know what was happening. We were just walking through some lineouts, and he actually trained for Sam Darry on Thursday and then did the captain’s run for Patty on Friday, so he got a lot of reps.

“We asked him ‘do we need to go over lineouts?’ so he gets a few more reps, but he said no; he was really clear. And he was really comfortable around his defensive role. It’s pretty cool that he gets to play his debut at home in front of his family and friends.

“I thought he acquitted himself really well. he got stuck in, got his hands on the ball, and was really physical. It was a nice start for him.”