The story about Steve Hansen’s charity work feels as though it’s blown out of proportion, as any in depth look at the issue loses integrity after the captivating headline.
Rivalry being the reasoning behind the uproar feels like an attempt to conjure up the passionate competition that was lost by this fixture a long time ago. The Wallabies haven’t held the Bledisloe or consistently challenged the All Blacks for over 2 decades. Surely, a coach of All Black calibre joining the fold could only be to the betterment of the game, in particular this fixture, for both sides of the ditch.
No one seemed to kick up a fuss when Ted joined the Argentinian camp in a far more instructive, assistant coaching role, less than a year after hoisting the Webb Ellis cup at Eden Park. And, it certainly hasn’t felt like ‘trade secrets’ of the All Blacks getting into the hands of our rivals has been the golden ticket for defeating the ‘not so invincible’s’. The 6 nations that have beaten us this World Cup cycle certainly didn’t need any.
If you were looking for a more appropriate place to vent these emotions you only have to look to our summer game, and Brendon McCullum’s appointment as coach of the English test side. You’d have a far more compelling case for how he’s taken the 2015 Blackcaps ‘spirit of cricket’ approach and injected it into the Poms’ side. You’d also have a better, traitorous fuelled argument for BMac joining a rival nation, as the English cricket side are far more competitive with the Blackcaps than the Wallabies have been able to dream of being for the past 10 years (even if that is more evident in the shorter formats). But even then, you’d probably fall short of a truely justifiable argument, as neither coach has set a foot wrong, contractually or morally.
I'd agree although the cynic in me wonders if it's because FIFA gave away lots of tickets to schools to fill the stadiums. However the tournament as a whole was great, I don't think I've watched so much football ever. The atmosphere at the stadiums was great even with small crowds (I volunteered so got to experience the freezing cold Waikato nights). Spain deserved winners, the ball control was amazing.
Hopefully NZF can actually do something right and make the most of it although I'm not holding my breath based on past experience.
Yeah fair shout. My experience taking my daughter to CD women's games and White Ferns have been a different atmosphere too. Obviously, a lot less people too.
100% agree re NZF- a cold chill runs down my spine thinking of how the opportunities of 2010 were flushed away.
I feel the same way about Hansen's move, mainly because we are fed so much verbiage from players and coaching staff overt the years about the mystique of the "jersey" and what it means to be an All Black....... not much apparently.
Another great article by you Dylan .. I’m totally with you about Hanson .. this is just my view .. but really do think he is very overrated as a coach ..in my small opinion Wayne smith is much better coach, since he left the All Blacks ..Hanson has been shown up a few times .. I do remember the same quote from Hanson .. it seems lot of the rugby media put Hanson on a pedestal..what he says he must be right .. we’ll in fact he actually been wrong on many levels .. the story goes that it was Hanson who wanted foster as the next all black coach, which would explain a few things .. like the whole job process .
All I can about the black caps .. is very little that was pure train wreck of a series ..I seen club cricketers catch better than our fielders..
On the womens football World Cup, think it was done brilliant .. like all tournaments you have few duds .. but nobody can say Spain didn’t deserve their win .. it was masterpiece on how to play attacking soccer with possession football ..
if I was NZ football ..I would get some very wealthy business's to invest in women’s football as I would target certain countries like the USA or Spain players in college football ..particularly on strikers .. and midfield. If you can’t beat them Join them I say.
On the final note when does the penny dropped for the rugby union .. that there is way too much rugby .. we can’t sustain the model we have .. it’s broken .. professional rugby is literally killing rugby for the sake of money ..less is more .
I find the Hansen move pretty funny really. He was never short of a barb about guys heading off on overseas “not valuing the jersey”. The spray he gave Charles Piatau rankled with me given he wasn’t exactly locked in with the ABs and I though Hansen had egg on his face when he explained his reasons for going - essentially “I’m not in the game day team and I grew up sleeping in a garage with my siblings, this is life changing for us” - who could argue with that? I actually don’t care whether people head off overseas or stay for the jersey but if you set impossibly high standards for others you kinda have to live up to them yourself.
You forgot “essential oil” - which makes sense as the Bounce is (and will continue to be) mandatory reading on each release. Get some black sticks coverage in and then you could be chasing perfection. Cheers
My first thought was to agree with you on Hansen, but then again no one seemed to have an issue when Ted went and helped the Argentina coaches after his ABs tenure?
So is it just down to the brotherly rivalry we have with Australia as arguably they are as much as a threat to the All Blacks as that Pumas side was back then.
The story about Steve Hansen’s charity work feels as though it’s blown out of proportion, as any in depth look at the issue loses integrity after the captivating headline.
Rivalry being the reasoning behind the uproar feels like an attempt to conjure up the passionate competition that was lost by this fixture a long time ago. The Wallabies haven’t held the Bledisloe or consistently challenged the All Blacks for over 2 decades. Surely, a coach of All Black calibre joining the fold could only be to the betterment of the game, in particular this fixture, for both sides of the ditch.
No one seemed to kick up a fuss when Ted joined the Argentinian camp in a far more instructive, assistant coaching role, less than a year after hoisting the Webb Ellis cup at Eden Park. And, it certainly hasn’t felt like ‘trade secrets’ of the All Blacks getting into the hands of our rivals has been the golden ticket for defeating the ‘not so invincible’s’. The 6 nations that have beaten us this World Cup cycle certainly didn’t need any.
If you were looking for a more appropriate place to vent these emotions you only have to look to our summer game, and Brendon McCullum’s appointment as coach of the English test side. You’d have a far more compelling case for how he’s taken the 2015 Blackcaps ‘spirit of cricket’ approach and injected it into the Poms’ side. You’d also have a better, traitorous fuelled argument for BMac joining a rival nation, as the English cricket side are far more competitive with the Blackcaps than the Wallabies have been able to dream of being for the past 10 years (even if that is more evident in the shorter formats). But even then, you’d probably fall short of a truely justifiable argument, as neither coach has set a foot wrong, contractually or morally.
Your comment re kids at women's sport rings true for me. Seems to be a different atmosphere with less boorish behaviour.
I'd agree although the cynic in me wonders if it's because FIFA gave away lots of tickets to schools to fill the stadiums. However the tournament as a whole was great, I don't think I've watched so much football ever. The atmosphere at the stadiums was great even with small crowds (I volunteered so got to experience the freezing cold Waikato nights). Spain deserved winners, the ball control was amazing.
Hopefully NZF can actually do something right and make the most of it although I'm not holding my breath based on past experience.
Yeah fair shout. My experience taking my daughter to CD women's games and White Ferns have been a different atmosphere too. Obviously, a lot less people too.
100% agree re NZF- a cold chill runs down my spine thinking of how the opportunities of 2010 were flushed away.
I feel the same way about Hansen's move, mainly because we are fed so much verbiage from players and coaching staff overt the years about the mystique of the "jersey" and what it means to be an All Black....... not much apparently.
The 'mystique' thing is a bit nauseating to me. It was significantly diminished once they plastered a logo in the middle of the jersey.
Another great article by you Dylan .. I’m totally with you about Hanson .. this is just my view .. but really do think he is very overrated as a coach ..in my small opinion Wayne smith is much better coach, since he left the All Blacks ..Hanson has been shown up a few times .. I do remember the same quote from Hanson .. it seems lot of the rugby media put Hanson on a pedestal..what he says he must be right .. we’ll in fact he actually been wrong on many levels .. the story goes that it was Hanson who wanted foster as the next all black coach, which would explain a few things .. like the whole job process .
All I can about the black caps .. is very little that was pure train wreck of a series ..I seen club cricketers catch better than our fielders..
On the womens football World Cup, think it was done brilliant .. like all tournaments you have few duds .. but nobody can say Spain didn’t deserve their win .. it was masterpiece on how to play attacking soccer with possession football ..
if I was NZ football ..I would get some very wealthy business's to invest in women’s football as I would target certain countries like the USA or Spain players in college football ..particularly on strikers .. and midfield. If you can’t beat them Join them I say.
On the final note when does the penny dropped for the rugby union .. that there is way too much rugby .. we can’t sustain the model we have .. it’s broken .. professional rugby is literally killing rugby for the sake of money ..less is more .
I find the Hansen move pretty funny really. He was never short of a barb about guys heading off on overseas “not valuing the jersey”. The spray he gave Charles Piatau rankled with me given he wasn’t exactly locked in with the ABs and I though Hansen had egg on his face when he explained his reasons for going - essentially “I’m not in the game day team and I grew up sleeping in a garage with my siblings, this is life changing for us” - who could argue with that? I actually don’t care whether people head off overseas or stay for the jersey but if you set impossibly high standards for others you kinda have to live up to them yourself.
You forgot “essential oil” - which makes sense as the Bounce is (and will continue to be) mandatory reading on each release. Get some black sticks coverage in and then you could be chasing perfection. Cheers
Just Sir Mumbles securing Eddies support for him and Foster to take over the VERY lucrative job of coaching Japan after Jamie Joseph moves on.
Note his sycophantic biographer, Grigor Paul, totally defends and tries to justify Mumbles decisions in the NZ Herald.
My first thought was to agree with you on Hansen, but then again no one seemed to have an issue when Ted went and helped the Argentina coaches after his ABs tenure?
So is it just down to the brotherly rivalry we have with Australia as arguably they are as much as a threat to the All Blacks as that Pumas side was back then.
One person actually did have an issue when Henry went to Argentina... his former assistant coach. From the time:
"Hansen said there were mixed feelings about seeing the former All Blacks coach [with Argentina].
"'Laughter, disappointment, there were a whole range of emotions,' Hansen said."
Then he allegedly didn't let Henry in the ABs rooms afterwards for a beer...
Haha - I stand corrected!