The dinner in Germany where Steve Hansen got stuck into England
RFU chief Bill Sweeney is hoping England can regain their consistency in the Six Nations and go to win the World Cup so that he can eventually have the last laugh on Steve Hansen, the ex-All Blacks coach whose withering critique of the English set-up at a long-ago dinner in Germany has never been forgotten by the English rugby CEO.
Hansen led the All Blacks to World Cup glory in 2015 but it was while he was an assistant to Graham Henry, the 2011 RWC winner, that his path crossed in Europe with Sweeney in a manner that hasn’t been forgotten.
Before he joined the RFU as its CEO in May 2019 following a six-year stint with British Olympics, Sweeney earned his living in the commercial world and it was during his time at Adidas that he encountered Hansen and an entourage of All Blacks.
What was said about English rugby at a dinner at that time has since stayed on the mind of Sweeney as he seeks to lead the RFU to unprecedented levels of consistency with its national team which is currently headed up by head coach Eddie Jones and backed by the appointed on Sweeney’s watch of Conor O’Shea as the high-performance boss.
Sweeney recently recalled the damning Hansen assessment of English rugby in an in-depth interview in the Rugby Journal magazine and he concluded that he hopes to someday have a very satisfying last say on the matter.
The irony of it… a year after getting poleaxed by a red-carded Owen Farrell, Charlie Atkinson embarked on a project researching the England captain along with All Blacks out-half Richie Mo’unga#Wasps #England #AllBlacks https://t.co/9E0WXBw4tS
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 7, 2022
“Whenever the All Blacks were playing in the northern hemisphere, they would send eight or nine players across to Nuremberg and they would be there for a week and they do product testing and marketing appearances,” explained Sweeney about his business tie-in with the New Zealanders.
“I would always deal with them and their favourite restaurant was a Japanese restaurant in the centre of town and I was there one night with the likes of Dan Carter, Ma’a Nonu and Steve Hansen. At one point Steve stood up, raised his glass and made a toast, saying, ‘You are the only Englishman in here and you won the World Cup in 2003, so fantastic, well done, but you will never win one again’.
“He basically said we didn’t have the systems in place for sustained success, we’re just not set up to continually win. We had a great set of players in 2003, but that’s it, we’ll never win again. And that’s what really stuck with me.
“I’d love to leave behind the best world-class, high-performance system in the world, one where we have always got a strong chance of winning a Grand Slam and we are always going to be in the last four at the World Cup. And then I can shove it up Steve Hansen’s… nose one day.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Self proclaimed expert/pundit Andy Goode and his very personal views on referees…Why recalling them in such an article as if he were an undisputed authority on the subject ? Only because fellow writer ?
1 Go to commentsLate growth spurts are a common problem over here. I’m well over 30, and I just started having a growth spurt too. Could be a world class prop soon.
1 Go to commentsas much as the challenge cup is a bit of a nothing competition, winning it would still mean something. last year it was won by toulon, who are now something like 4th in the top 14? The year before it was won by Lyon a season before they finished 3rd in the league. The year before that the final was contested by Montpellier and Leicester - 12 months before they both became domestic champions. That should give Gloucester fans some hope.
1 Go to commentsgreat article - although I can’t help wonder whether the more relevant debate over coming years will be between Ford and Fin Smith!
1 Go to commentsMaking Scott Barrett captain might be a masterstroke….will calm him down & stop brain fades and also take pressure off Ardie, so he can just play his natural monster game. Lets see how that all pans out🧐
8 Go to commentsI’m surprised Scotland are planning to rest key players this summer - I don’t think any other tier 1 nation will be doing the same?
2 Go to commentsGreat analysis Brett and what a shame that RA haven't spent more on the tight five instead. BTW I see the latest 8-9 Combo has dropped, looking forward to that. It's incredible the amount of damage that Hamish and Eddie's egos did in such a short space of time. From memory Eddie drove the initial drive to poach league stars way back in the 00s, with community rugby paying the price in reduced funding. Australia went from 15% of its income being spent on community rugby in 2002 to 2.4% in 2015, sheer madness and look where they are now. Hamish reminds me of Scrappy Doo. Always mouthing off, spoiling for a fight with bigger dogs who'd eat him alive. Sadly RA didn't have a Scooby Doo to bail him out.
12 Go to comments*_“I love watching bone-shuddering tackles, brutal clear-outs, monster ball carries, and crushingly intense scrummaging. I love it. These things make my heart rate spike. These aren’t the only things I love about rugby, but I feel no need to pretend I don’t love them, or to apologise for loving them just in case someone thinks I shouldn’t.”_* beautifully put Flats🔥
3 Go to comments“Hidden comments” all over the place😂 Turlough’s been a busy little boy ey🤭
83 Go to commentsit’ll all be released in an autobiography a few years from now….. “Razor shafted me” blah blah blah. thinking of making Scott Barrett captain might be a good move. Could calm down his brain fades & make him an even better player for them
3 Go to commentsSadly he played far too many games too young. England and France really do need to look after their younger players better.
1 Go to commentsHaving finally been able to watch the first Chasing the Sun (thanks RugbyPass!) - because I refuse to pay DSTV's extortionate monthly fee in SA - after four years, it was amazing to see Mapimpi's story as well as seeing my personal hero, Rassie, breaking down when telling it. There _is_ hope for the country, but only once we've got rid of the crooked and incompetent ANC (and others) who have set out to destroy it. Viva Rassie, viva Kolisi viva rugby!
1 Go to commentsWhether true or not, all the best to you Sam Cane. A warrior of a player and a loyal servant to the ABs! Go get you some yen and have some fun.
3 Go to commentsThe game was changing too much with teams trying to role the dice drawing fouls. Would be better if scrums and the adjudicating problems were resolved but this is a good immediate fix.
42 Go to commentsLike many here I am encouraged by this post. Our forwards are where the real rewards and improvements must come from. With a 50/50 pack against any opposition, our backs could ensure more than 50% of the games will be won. We need Valetini at 6 and Cale at 8 to make the most or a good tight 5, McWright will add to the effectiveness of the pack BUT must get a very good tight 5 out there first.
119 Go to commentsThe key point I think that is missing is that if Joseph wants to guarantee a Lions spot, he really has to play wing in his first year. He is easily going to nail down whatever he wants to do, but with just half a season, how much of a factor he proves to be in the Lions series could be dictated by this initial choice of playing position.
12 Go to commentsthe game was 2 weeks before the challenge cup final. I really don’t believe they needed to rest that many players.
1 Go to commentsI really feel like neither of the Vunipolas is given the respect they deserve. I would have liked to see both of them get a few more caps than they have gotten in the past couple of years, but unfortunately the fact that they both peaked young has meant that for a number of years they have been perceived as disappointments. When they are both retired, in the cold light of day they will be recognised as two of the best players of their generation of any nation.
4 Go to commentsthis generation of saracens players could produce some really incredible coaches. When Farrell retires he could walk into any premiership team as a defence, attack, or kicking coach. Itoje could make it as a defence or a lineout coach, and Jamie George as a lineout or scrum coach. The problem the Vunipolas are going to have is that its not clear what their coaching speciality would be. Neither are great in the set piece, and while they were good in attack and defence, they were never tactical masterminds. Perhaps contact skills would be their ideal brief? Mako perhaps could work in strength & conditioning, but Billy has a bit of a reputation for not taking that side of the game seriously.
4 Go to commentsA very good player.We are finally getting some balance in our team. Plummer..Heem ..Lam a solid..experienced combo who take the sensible options consistently. Clarke was a grt impact of the bench option until Lam moved to 13 to replace an injured Reiko. Cotter is doing a grt job building his team. .
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