‘All Blacks secrets’: What Steve Hansen is doing with Eddie Jones’ Wallabies
When the bombshell news hit that legendary All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen had joined Eddie Jones at the Wallabies ahead of the World Cup, New Zealanders were heartbroken.
Hansen officially became a ‘Sir’ in August 2020 after a decorated coaching career with the All Blacks. The former coach won two World Cup crowns, and has one of the best winning percentages in rugby history.
So, for a coach that has done so much for the All Blacks to go inside the Wallabies’ inner sanctum, this was seen by Kiwi rugby fans as the ultimate act of betrayal.
Hansen had crossed enemy lines.
New Zealanders on social media couldn’t quite make sense of the news – and neither could the All Blacks.
Veteran Dane Coles was “hurt” and “gobsmacked” when a reporter broke the news of Hansen’s carer update to him earlier this week.
Coles couldn’t understand why “an icon in the All Blacks setup” had defected to one of the All Blacks’ fiercest rivals. It just didn’t make sense, and Coles was visibly shocked and gutted.
This news got political too, with New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins joking about revoking Hanen’s citizenship. But Kiwis can breathe a sigh of relief.
Speaking with Martin Devlin on The Platform, Peter FitzSimons weighed in on the fiery debate from Paris. The former Wallaby attended an Australian training session with Hansen this week.
“There I was, Marty, standing beside Steve Hansen at the Wallaby training. He thought I was just being friendly but I was being a double agent,” FitzSimons joked on The Platform.
“I was pretending to be on the Australian side but I was actually there for you Marty, I was watching that ba*****. I was making sure that he didn’t whisper in Eddie’s ear anything about All Blacks secrets.”
Hansen explained on Newstalk ZB that he was only with the Wallabies “for about three to four days at the request of Eddie.”
The two legendary coaches, who battled it out in the Test arena many times – including the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final in Yokohama – are great mates. Coach Jones described Hansen coming into camp as “like a mate coming in (and) having a beer.”
“It’s bu******. I’ll speak honestly for a moment, it’s absolutely bu******,” FitzSimons added.
“Steve Hansen is a great rugby man… World Rugby needs Australian rugby to be strong and Steve Hansen is not passing over any message of All Blacks secrets.
“What he’s doing, he’s wandering around and having a bit of a chat – that’s it. There’s no meetings at midnight.
“He was talking to me about the virtues of culture, of a culture where you know each other, you like each other, old school rugby values, and the All Blacks have been terrific on that kind of stuff.
“We were both talking about the lovely line from my favourite rugby man ever, Sir Brian Lochore, BJ Lochore, the great line… ‘Better men make better All Blacks.’ It’s a great line.”
The Wallabies have lost all four Test matches under rugby guru Eddie Jones this year, and things took another disastrous turn as they prepared to leave Australia for Europe.
Attack coach Brad Davis left the Wallabies three weeks before the Rugby World Cup due to “personal reasons.” Suddenly, coach Jones was looking for a replacement – and had to find one quickly.
Australia has brought in former rugby league coach Jason Ryles, who has previously worked with Jones. It’s a major boost for the Wallabies, but the prospect of an 0-5 still looms large.
Looking to take the next step in their development as a coaching group, Jones decided to invite Hansen into Wallabies’ camp for two reasons.
“There’s two main areas mate: training quality, which is our way of improving, and the leadership of the team,” Jones told reporters earlier this week.
“Steve is having a look at both of those areas. Every time he speaks there is some wisdom in what he says. When he says something, we’re listening to him.
“How we can improve what we are doing, we’re looking to see if we can use his advice to do that.”
There was no room for veterans Michael Hooper and Quade Cooper in the Wallabies’ Rugby World Cup squad, with coach Jones and the selectors picking a youthful 33-man squad.
Four-Test flyhalf Carter Gordon was picked as the sole flyhalf in the squad, and inexperienced utility Ben Donaldson is set to play a backup role.
Out of the 33-man group, 25 players are set to play at a Rugby World Cup for the first time. It’s a staggering stat for a tier-one nation, but one that bodes well for the future of Australian rugby.
“They like good people coming in the camp, they want to get better and they can see the value of Steve,” Jones added.
“Just look at his Test record, I think he coached 200 Tests, for the All Blacks he won 80 plus per cent, I think 87 per cent.
“They like good people coming into the camp and he’s a good person. The attitudes have been really positive mate.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Interesting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to comments