Rugby World Cup winner Steve Hansen says he could never coach England

Steve Hansen and Richie McCaw celebrate with the Webb Ellis Cup after beating Australia in the final at Twickenham. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images

THE New Zealand head coach, Steve Hansen, has ruled out working with England or any other Test nation after steering the All Blacks to their historic 2015 Rugby World Cup triumph. Hansen does not plan on continuing in his job past 2017 but is not interested in helping England or any other rival side.
The 56-year-old, whose team have become the first to win successive World Cup titles, has coached Wales but will resist any offers to coach internationally overseas again. “Now I’ve coached the All Blacks I couldn’t coach against them,” he said. “This is the best team for me to coach because I’m a New Zealander and I don’t need to go anywhere else.” Hansen has his sights set on winning a series against the Lions when they tour New Zealand in 2017 and driving the All Blacks on to even greater heights.

“In the next two years we want to make it a better team than it is now. That’s just as big a challenge as coaching anywhere else.” As things stand, however, he feels it is unlikely he will supervise New Zealand’s 2019 World Cup campaign.

“I would probably say it is more likely I won’t be there after 2017. If it’s not right for the team, I don’t want to do it. I’d love to coach the All Blacks until the day I die, it’s the best job in the world as far as I am concerned for a rugby coach. But is that right for the team? I wouldn’t think so. I was offered a contract to go through to 2019 but I didn’t take it because I didn’t think it was right. You only get 10 years for murder back home.
“I like the idea of changing the guard halfway through a cycle which has a World Cup in the middle of it. Unless you’ve got real strength of character you can get tricked into making decisions which are right for your survival, as opposed to what is right for the team.”

New Zealand are hopeful they will be able to cope with the impending loss of a clutch of senior players. Richie McCaw has still to confirm officially his retirement but, after 148 Tests, Hansen is not factoring his captain into his plans for next year. McCaw and his team-mates celebrated their 34-17 success over Australia with an all-night party and the flanker admits the outcome was immensely satisfying.

“The relief isn’t as huge as 2011 but the satisfaction was the same,” McCaw said. “If we hadn’t won there would be an itch there you can’t scratch. A small part of you is sad that guys won’t be seen playing for the All Blacks again. But what better way to finish? The service they’ve given of the years is one of the big reasons this team has been able to perform in the way it has.”

McCaw has also acknowledged his team ranks up there with any in his experience after they won a World Cup outside New Zealand for the first time. “The 2007 team that went to the World Cup was one of the most talented teams I’ve been involved in, but results show that we didn’t achieve our potential,” he said. “This team has a core of guys who have seen it through and there’s no doubt it’s one of the best.”
Sonny Bill Williams, who is hoping to play sevens at the Olympics in 2016, believes the All Blacks can improve even without McCaw, Carter, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock. “We’ll never have those players, they’re legends in their own right. But the talent in New Zealand is crazy. There’s going to be players who step up without a doubt. We just have to wait and see who those names are but I can tell you those guys are going to be special as well.”

Williams has no regrets about giving his winner’s medal away to a teenage fan who ran on to the field at Twickenham. “A young fella snuck on the field somehow but when he was coming up to give me a hug he got smoked by a security guard, a full-on tackle,” he said. “It was lucky he didn’t break his ribs or something… so I thought I’d make it a night to remember for him. Rather than the medal hanging up at home it will be hanging round that young fella’s neck. He can tell the story for a long time to come.” Williams will not go home empty handed after World Rugby gave him a replacement medal. theguardian.com

Follow us on Twitter on @FingazLive and on Facebook – The Financial Gazette