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Steve Hansen opens up: The family tragedy that inspired All Blacks success
Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has spoken of the personal tragedy that helped drive him to Rugby World Cup success.
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Hansen was at the 2007 Rugby World Cup when his mother Lauriss was hospitalised with cancer. Hansen rushed home midway through the tournament, only to be persuaded to return by his mother, who wanted him to bring the Cup home; the All Blacks having not won the trophy since 1987.
The All Blacks’ resulting shock defeat to France in the quarter-final made things tougher for the then-assistant coach, and he told WalesOnline that Lauriss’ message stayed with him as a major motivator after she passed away the following year.
“Personally, my mother had died in the January following the 2007 tournament,” Hansen told WalesOnline.
“She had said ‘bring the World Cup home’ and, when you don’t do that, you feel a sense of not having done the job.
“So, for me, when we did it in 2011, it was like “Well there you go mum, that’s the job’s been done, tick’.”
It wasn’t the only World Cup Hansen won, taking over as head coach to win the 2015 title, but he says the experiences involved in triumphing were notably different.
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“There was a sense of relief in 2011. We all had different reasons to feel that.
“For the nation it was, ‘well, we’ve got that monkey off our back. They can’t tell us we are chokers anymore.’
“As a nation, we had wanted to win it so badly.
“For Graham [Henry], who was put under an enormous amount of pressure, he would have had his own feelings of tick, job done.
“When we did it in 2015, that campaign couldn’t have gone any better. Everything just seemed to fall into place and it was just really satisfying, as opposed to relief.”
New Zealand Rugby have issued a statement regarding the resignation of Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle.https://t.co/CVgNwpVeoX
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 23, 2020
Hansen then realised just how fortunate – and fleeting – that experience was in 2019, when, in his final World Cup as All Blacks coach, they finished third after a semifinal defeat to England.
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“The funny thing about World Cups – and New Zealand has learned this more than any other team – is you’ve got to get it right or you don’t get the opportunity.
“In the one just gone, we played really good rugby, bar for one game, and unfortunately that one game says ‘right, you don’t get a second chance’.
“And England, who played so tremendously well against us, couldn’t back it up in the final.
“They are not easy to win World Cups. In a series, you can drop a game and come back and win the next two and win the series. People don’t remember the one you lose.
“But in a World Cup, if you lose one people remember it because it means you don’t normally win the tournament.”
Comments on RugbyPass
If rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
23 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
23 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
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