“We allowed ourselves to be dominated in the first half and we didn’t control possession and that was down to Ireland… great credit to them and I hope they enjoy their victory.”
Steve Hansen was nothing but graceful in the immediate aftermath of New Zealand’s 40-29 loss to Ireland at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
The All Blacks head coach sat in front of a packed press room and swatted away excuses, choosing instead to praise Ireland’s skill and determination to see out a famous victory. He declared:
“People will say, ‘Oh, you were missing two locks [Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick],’ but we haven’t got any excuses. We were just beaten by a better side on the day. That happens when you play good sides. And we’ve been saying for quite some time they’re a good team.”
Well, six months on and with the Lions Tour imminent, Hansen has rolled out a couple of excuses.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Hansen has harked back to having not only Retallick and Whitelock but Luke Romano missing for that loss in Chicago. He also focused on his team’s failings rather than say anything positive about the victors. Hansen said:
“If the Lions are going to read too much into that [game], it would be a mistake. Because they are not Ireland, they are the Lions.
“I’m sure Gatland will come with his own style and way of wanting to play the game and that will not be the same as Joe Schmidt. It [defeat] was inevitable at some point for us. We could look at the fact that we had three top locks out and other absences too. But then we would be ignoring the inconvenient fact that we didn’t play well.”
He also addressed the ill-natured return match against Ireland in Dublin, which the ABs won 21-9. They came in for some grief after the game and 10 incidents from the game were put forward for the citing commissioner to examine.
Ultimately, only Malakai Fekitoa received a suspension after his straight-arm tackle on Simon Zebo. Hansen said:
“Malakai’s high tackle was a high tackle. Is it our fault the ref saw it as a yellow card? But yet he didn’t yellow card [Johnny] Sexton for taking other people’s heads off.”
Hansen was not finished there.
The Kiwi believes the Lions 2017 squad is one of their strongest yet but suggested that brings an added pressure that the tourists may not be able to cope with.
Your basic heel turn. His comments will go down well in New Zealand yet stoke fires up these parts.
