All Blacks assistant coach weighs in on ill-discipline against Scotland

When Kyle Steyn scored in the 51st minute and put Scotland within a one score margin against the All Blacks at Murrayfield, fans started to believe that it could be there day to beat the All Blacks for the first time ever.

Gregor Townsend’s side often found themselves playing against 14 men, with the All Blacks’ discipline hurting them, not for the first time in Scott Robertson’s tenure as head coach.

The away side managed to storm home through some Damian McKenzie magic off the bench, but All Blacks assistant coach Scott Hansen explains that Scotland’s second half comeback came on the back of some poor decisions.

“Yeah and not going through the clips, but what it felt like in the stand, obviously, Scotland got the momentum, came down the field, and they really did camp us in our area the field today,” Hansen told Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB’s Weekend Sport show.

“In regards to 20 minutes off our try line, they apply really good pressure with ball in hand, and then through that pressure, unfortunately, we responded around some poor decisions with breakdown and or on the ball, which resulted in those three yellow cards and that’s never going to help us.

All Blacks winger Leroy Carter was the first to be sent for ten minutes on the sideline for a trip on a Scotland player, before Ardie Savea was penalised at a rolling maul and Wallace Sititi was sent to the bin for intentionally stopping a Scotland attack.

Hansen believes that the only way to coach the yellow cards out of the game, is to understand what the team needs from you in that certain moment of time.

“Oh, you talk about self control, you talk about where we are within that pressure, what the team really needs from the individual.

“And basically, we can’t put ourselves in those positions where we’re playing a Test match for 30 minutes with only 14 on the field. That won’t be good enough, and tonight, that nearly cost us.

“So there’s some lessons there, just acknowledge where we need to be around it and a lot of that was trust. Really, you look at Wallace, he was trying to do the right thing, but really getting one hand to the ball on an edge like that, you’ve just got to get two hands to it in that moment.”

But on a positive note for the All Blacks and Hansen, the last ten minutes was what separated the two teams at Murrayfield, thanks to some individual brilliance by McKenzie.

“Oh, he’s pretty special, isn’t he, I spoke to Jason Holland before, and I said, Well, geez, if there’s anyone better in the world who are coming off the bench in those moments, then they’ve got to show me who that is.

“Damian has been unreal for us around coming off the bench, giving us that energy and also that game understanding and the special moment around keeping the ball in play.

“Then Leicester, getting the offload on the edge, and then just Damian doing what he does, and being special, so it was a nice moment there, we decided to hold on to possession and build it through carrying and it was a good outcome on that left hand corner.

Team Form

Last 5 Games

48 - 46

23 - 18

21 - 42

31 - 20

48 - 7

26 - 52

33 - 19

17 - 25

13 - 26

14 - 28

1

Wins

4

4

Streak

1

21

Tries Scored

21

2

Points Difference

47

2/5

First Try

4/5

1/5

First Points

3/5

1/5

Race To 10 Points

4/5

Despite his class coming off the bench, questions have been asked about whether we could see McKenzie start against England at Allianz Stadium next weekend.

But Hansen says that the coaching staff will continue to pick the best team for each week, which could involve a swap at first-five if necessary.

“We’ll always pick what we feel is best for the week. I just think where Damian is around his game and what he’s given us there, there’s trust in Damian around starting,” Hansen told Pine.

“He started a couple of weeks ago for us against the Wallabies, obviously. So what I’m acknowledging is what he gives us from the bench and those special moments, but that’s also a massive amount of trust and how he leads us around the field as a team when required.”