'Not the game I want': Hansen blasts ‘integrity’ issue after Wallabies-Boks clash

Former All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen has taken aim at what he believes is a growing problem with diving in rugby, accusing players of going to ground in order to slow matches down or prompt intervention from the TMO.

Hansen made the comments on the Rugby Unity podcast following Australia’s 42-38 victory over South Africa in Perth on Sunday, with the Wallabies holding off a late Springbok fightback to secure the win.

The 2015 World Cup-winning coach suggested the issue is becoming increasingly common across the game, and even pointed to South Africa’s women’s side as an example of a team using injury stoppages to disrupt the flow of a match.

Hansen believes players are now going to ground in the hope that officials will review incidents, comparing the practice to diving in football and questioning whether it sits comfortably with rugby’s values. The issues of diving and time wasting were recurring complaints during Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, with the Springboks repeatedly accused of slowing the game down, and All Blacks scrum-half Cam Roigard at the heart of an infamous diving incident. 

The 67-year-old was particularly concerned by the implications for the sport’s integrity, insisting that repeated attempts to manufacture stoppages are not something he wants to see become part of Test rugby.

“How many times you go through Test matches, both the women’s, because South Africa did it in the women’s game against the Black Ferns, they slowed the game right down with injuries every two seconds,” Hansen said on the podcast.

“We’ve got divers now in our game. It used to be only in football. Now we got divers.

“And then if that doesn’t get a result, they’ll get someone else to go down so the TMO can go back and look at the diver. Now, what was he diving about?

“You know, so you’re talking about integrity. Is that the game we want?

“No, it’s not the game I want and I’m sure it’s not the game that a lot of people want.”