If you’re coaching the greatest team in the world, why leave until you’re definitely ready to go?
Such is the transient nature of sport that a coach sticking around for eight years is almost inconceivable.
It now looks likely that Steve Hansen will do just that. ‘Shag’, who was assistant to Graham Henry when New Zealand won the 2011 World Cup, helped the All Blacks retain the Webb Ellis trophy in 2015.
It was thought that Hansen would step down after the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand but he appears to be plotting for the 2019 World Cup. He told the BBC:
“New Zealand Rugby have got to say they’re keen too. I’m sure if we can sit down, something positive will come.”
Hansen was encouraged to stay on after the 3-0 series whitewash over Wales, last month. During that series, he said, the hunger to be the best and beat the rest pulsed as strongly through his veins.
Hansen has outlined the four factors that will come down to deciding his future:
“One is the family… is it right for them? Is it right for the team? Is it right for the [New Zealand] Rugby Union and can I still get up in the morning and motivate myself and the team to improve?
“So if I can’t do all those things, I won’t do it. If I still think I can do it and the players are keen on me to do it then I’ll think about it.”
Were Hansen to stay on in the role, it would damage the homecoming hopes of Joe Schmidt and Warren Gatland. The respective Ireland and Wales coaches are both keen on the job but would be discommoded by waiting an extra two years.
Schmidt, who is considering his Ireland future beyond his June 2017 contract, could return to coach a Super Rugby franchise but his best hope of landing the All Blacks job would surely be taking Ireland deep into the 2019 World Cup.
Hansen’s decision should have ramifications some 12,000 miles away, in Europe.
