Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

One more match would make all the difference for Hansen

By Tom Vinicombe
The All Blacks leave the field after their defeat to Ireland in November. Photo / Getty Images

On the back of last weekend’s defeat to Ireland, Steve Hansen and his fellow coaches won’t be pushing the panic button just yet  but they’ll certainly have a few things to mull over once the season finishes.

ADVERTISEMENT

Completing a calendar year with only two losses is by no means a poor result – only Ireland will have had a more successful 2019 than New Zealand. Indeed, the All Blacks’ two losses have come against arguably the two teams most likely to challenge them for the World Cup in 2019: Ireland and South Africa.

That being said, although the two losses won’t give Hansen too many sleepless nights – he’s already admitted that the All Blacks’ attempts to implement some new tactics are taking a little longer than expected – he will be a little frustrated with how the year has come to an end.

When the Springboks triumphed over the All Blacks in Wellington back in September, the New Zealanders only had to wait two weeks to rectify their mistakes. The rematch in Pretoria fell the way of the All Blacks and, though it wasn’t an all-round comprehensive victory, the NZ coaches would have been happy with how they’d responded to the earlier loss.

It’s a part of Hansen’s legacy now – the All Blacks always bounce back. Think back to the last time Ireland beat New Zealand, in Chicago. Two weeks later, in the return fixture, the All Blacks managed to keep Ireland from crossing the try-line altogether. The All Blacks learn from their mistakes – which is why Hansen will be frustrated that they don’t really have any immediate opportunities to do that on the back of the Ireland defeat.

On the back of last weekend’s defeat to Ireland, Steve Hansen and his fellow coaches won’t be pushing the panic button just yet – but they’ll certainly have a few things to mull over once the season finishes.

Completing a calendar year with only two losses is by no means a poor result – only Ireland will have had a more successful 2019 than New Zealand. Indeed, the All Blacks’ two losses have come against arguably the two teams most likely to challenge them for the World Cup in 2019: Ireland and South Africa.

ADVERTISEMENT

That being said, although the two losses won’t give Hansen too many sleepless nights – he’s already admitted that the All Blacks’ attempts to implement some new tactics are taking a little longer than expected – he will be a little frustrated with how the year has come to an end. When the Springboks triumphed over the All Blacks in Wellington back in September, the New Zealanders only had to wait two weeks to rectify their mistakes. The rematch in Pretoria fell the way of the All Blacks and, though it wasn’t an all-around comprehensive victory, the NZ coaches would have been happy with how they’d responded to the earlier loss.

It’s a part of Hansen’s legacy now – the All Blacks always bounce back. Think back to the last time Ireland beat New Zealand, in Chicago. Two weeks later, in the return fixture, the All Blacks managed to keep Ireland from crossing the try-line altogether. The All Blacks learn from their mistakes – which is why Hansen will be frustrated that they don’t really have any immediate opportunities to do that on the back of the Ireland defeat.

It’s fair to assume that this coming week’s fixture against Italy will give some of the reserves the chance for some more game time. There will likely be some key figures retained in the team, but we’ll also see a number of backups take the field. Without disrespecting Italy, we know that the All Blacks will win no matter what team they put out – and likely by a handsome margin.

Without a competitive match to close out the year, it won’t be until 2019’s Rugby Championship that the All Blacks next come up against a top tier team – at which point, there will only be three scheduled test matches before the World Cup begins.

ADVERTISEMENT

There’s not an awful lot of time for the team to get their new tactics working efficiently, which means that Hansen and co will be doing a lot of work over the summer to ensure that their players come back ready to dive straight into the cauldron.

Of course, Hansen has also said that there won’t be any knee-jerk reactions to this latest loss, but if the All Blacks did have one more big match to play this year, then what changes might they consider making?

Will the McKenzie experiment continue?

After the third Bledisloe test for 2019 had come to an end, Beauden Barrett spoke of how much he valued having a second playmaker – in the form of Damian McKenzie – on the field to help call some of the shots. Steve Hansen shortly reiterated that it was a tactic the All Blacks were likely to persist with moving forward.

Having McKenzie on the field, operating from fullback, takes some of the pressure off Barrett at first five – but there have always been critics who have suggested that McKenzie is simply too small for test rugby. Even some of his supporters have said that he operates best off the bench when opposition teams are tiring.

Ireland bombarded McKenzie with high kicks in last weekend’s match – kicks which weren’t always defused as effectively as they needed to be. Still, McKenzie was one of the few players that was truly threatening to break open the Irish defence – much the same as the week prior, where he was arguably the All Black’s best performing back against England.

In response to the most recent match, the calls for Richie Mo’unga to start at 10 for the All Blacks have resumed. Hansen may well be thinking along the same lines of some of the armchair critics, but this is likely less to do with McKenzie’s performances and more to do with Barrett’s.

Although Barrett has always done a serviceable job for New Zealand in the 10 jersey (let’s not forget his two World Rugby Player of the Year awards), his greatest strengths lie in broken, open-field play. One way or another, he has to be on the field – but perhaps a shift to fullback, with Mo’unga running the cutter, would help the team orchestrate its tactics a bit more successfully.

Mo’unga is still yet to be properly tested in an international match – no offense to Argentina or Japan – and time is running out. He will almost certainly get a run against Italy this weekend but that won’t do much to quell any reservations about his ability to perform at the highest level.

Is the balance right in the loose-forwards?

With Sam Cane’s neck injury and Kieran Read’s disrupted year, things haven’t quite been going right for the All Blacks in the loose-forwards on this end of year tour. Read, Ardie Savea and Liam Squire were outplayed against a second-string England trio and, again, over the weekend against Ireland.

Savea has shown this year that he can consistently perform against the best in the world but Read’s and Squire’s performances are more worrisome.

For a number of years, Kieran Read was indisputably the best number 8 in the world – but it’s been quite a long time since he reached those lofty heights. Realistically, if a World XV were to be selected tomorrow, would Read even feature in discussions?

That’s not to say that he should be dropped, or that he can’t turn it around – he has suffered a fair share of injuries over the last few years and is still struggling to string together multiple matches without some sort of relapse. The All Blacks coaches will be hoping that Read can stay injury-free next year and that he can find some of the form that made him such an indispensable part of the team for so many years.

Liam Squire is another who has spent a lot of time on the sidelines through injury and, although he’s the incumbent blindside flanker for New Zealand, it’s not a mantle he’s had long enough such that he is guaranteed his position if his form takes a major dip.

When Squire went off injured against Ireland, Scott Barrett took the field and made an immediate impact. Barrett, although the third-choice lock for the All Blacks, is looking more and more like he could be a potential starter in the six jersey.

A match against Scotland or Wales would be the perfect opportunity to see whether Barrett is a realistic option to permanently take the field at blindside flanker for the All Blacks – instead we will have to wait until next year. Perhaps Hansen will have a word with Crusaders coach Scott Robertson about giving Barrett more opportunities in the role during next year’s Super Rugby season?

The All Blacks have a trove of players lined up to back up the regular loose-forward trio – but none of them have had regular, consistent game-time, and we’re still none the wiser of whether Vaea Fifita, Shannon Frizzell or Jackson Hemopo is the next in line. If Read doesn’t find form next year, is Luke Whitelock (or uncapped players Akira Ioane and Jordan Taufau) seriously an option to start at number 8? Time is running out to get answers.

Who is New Zealand’s number one halfback?

This is a simpler question, really.

Aaron Smith, on form, gives the All Blacks backline exceptionally quick ball to work with. TJ Perenara, second or third fiddle for a number of years, offers a potentially more diverse skill set but doesn’t offer quite the same speed at the base of the ruck. Neither player seems to consistently nail their box kicks – a weakness in the All Black’s game, compared to their Northern Hemisphere opposition.

This decision could very well come down to who performs the best in Super Rugby next year. When the All Blacks pack has ascendency, Smith is likely the better option – but he’s had a run of less-than-impressive displays in the current season.

Behind a struggling pack (which Perenara is more used to at the Super Rugby level), Perenara possibly offers more upsides. The All Blacks are rarely bossed around in the forwards – but both England and Ireland (and South Africa, earlier in the year) showed that New Zealand can be vulnerable in this area when some players are having off games. When this happens, Perenara might be the man to rally the troops and deal with the messy breakdowns.

The World Cup kicks off in under 10 months. Between now and the All Blacks’ first game of the tournament – against the Springboks, no less – New Zealand will play a mere three test matches (excluding any last-minute scheduling). Steve Hansen won’t be panicking anytime soon over his team’s performances, but he’d surely give anything to have another big match to finish off the season and shed some light over some of the questions he must still have about his charges.

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
Adrian 48 minutes ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

6 Go to comments
T
Trevor 3 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
B
Bull Shark 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

29 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby? Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?
Search