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‘Must have lost a bet’: All Black reacts to Steve Hansen joining Wallabies
Lock Scott Barrett has laughed off the bombshell news that former All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen has joined Eddie Jones at the Wallabies ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
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The man known within rugby circles as ‘Shag’ won two Rugby World Cup titles with the All Blacks, including the drought-breaking triumph in 2011 as an assistant coach.
Hansen left the All Blacks after their unsuccessful quest for a historic three-peat at the 2019 tournament in Japan, with current coach Ian Foster taking over.
But the legacy that Hansen left behind as a legendary All Blacks Head Coach may never be forgotten. Fans in New Zealand hold the former coach in high regard – which is what made this week’s news so shattering.
The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that Hansen was going to help Eddie Jones and the Wallabies ahead of the Rugby World Cup. This sent the rugby community into a frenzy on social media.
All Black Dane Coles was left “gobsmacked” and “hurt,” and New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins joked about revoking the former All Blacks coaches’ citizenship.
It’s a big deal. The rivalry between Australia and New Zealand – in any sport for that matter – is fierce. Fans couldn’t quite make sense of the news.
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In the leadup to the All Blacks’ clash with the Springboks at Twickenham, lock Scott Barrett has quipped about whether Hansen “lost a bet” before joining the Australians.
“Yeah it is a little bit surprising,” Barrett told reporters on Wednesday.
“I guess it’s professional rugby these days I guess. There must be something in it for him or he lost a bet. Something’s going on.”
Hansen and Wallabies coach Eddie Jones have battled it out in the Test arena many times, but the respect that they share for one another is clear. The two are actually good mates.
But just like Barrett, All Blacks coach Ian Foster has seen the funny side of this perceived coaching saga.
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Speaking with reporters, coach Foster joked that Hansen had “agreed to give me three pages of notes about everything that’s going on in their campaign.”
“I chuckle at the headlines, you guys must be pretty excited by it,” Foster said. “He told me a month ago that he was going in.
“He’s good mates with Eddie… there’s no lack of trust at all about his lack of commitment to us and to what we do and sharing stuff. I’ve got no issues really, in fact, we might bring him in for a couple of days ourselves.”
The former All Blacks coach confirmed on Newstalk ZB that he’d only be joining the Wallabies “for about three to four days at the request of Eddie.”
But some rugby fans are still questioning whether it’s the right move for Hansen to make. It’s an opinion that former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons described as “bu******.”
“I’ll speak honestly for a moment, it’s absolutely bu******,” FitzSimons told Martin Devlin on The Platform.
“Steve Hansen is a great rugby man… World Rugby needs Australian rugby to be strong and Steve Hansen is not passing over any messages of All Blacks secrets.
“What he’s doing, he’s wandering around and having a bit of a chat – that’s it. There are no meetings at midnight.
“He was talking to me about the virtues of culture, of a culture where you know each other, you like each other, old school rugby values, and the All Blacks have been terrific on that kind of stuff.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Let’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
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