Imagine Clive Woodward in the staff of the Blues. Or Fabien Galthié consultant for England. You have it ? Well, the news of the arrival of Steve Hansen at the bedside of the Wallabies is of the same ilk. New Zealanders and Australians have always been rivals, best enemies. So when Steve Hansen – assistant to Graham Henry from 2004 to 2001 then head coach of the All Blacks from 2011 to 2019, i.e. two world crowns (2011 and 2015) – joined Eddie Jones’ staff, it caused a stir in the land of Long White Cloud.
At the end of the week, the noise, unthinkable, began to run on the other side of the planet. Steve Hansen had accepted the invitation of his friend Eddie Jones to take on the role of consultant. A short-term function. A few days spent with the Wallabies, who arrived in France this week. Time to draw up an audit, to help the new coach of Australia to understand why his team had four defeats in four games since taking office. An unpaid mission wanted to clarify the Australian Federation to try to extinguish the controversy.
To measure the extent of the “betrayal”, just watch the interview with All Blacks hooker Dane Coles. A member of the team since 2012, he spent seven seasons under Steve Hansen, a respected and admired technician in New Zealand, winning, among other things, the 2015 World Cup. So when New Zealand TV asks him his feelings about this news, the Hurricanes player first burst out laughing, convinced that it was a joke as the news seemed impossible. And when he realizes it’s not a hidden camera, his body language and his words don’t lie. Incredulous and devastated.
“Put…Steve, what are you doing here?” a Dane Coles admittedly “stunned” by the news. And to ask for clarification “But at training camp, on the ground?”, visibly unable to digest the information. Once accepted, the hooker does not hide his disappointment. “To be honest, it hurts a bit. Steve is an icon for New Zealanders. I’m actually speechless. To do that after everything he brought to the All Black jersey… But hey, there’s nothing we can do about it.
After a final moment of reflection, massaging the back of his head still in shock at the news, Dane Coles raises one final concern. “I hope he won’t give them all our secrets… No, I think he will be respectful…” In any case, in New Zealand, the controversy has been raging since the formalization of what many consider to be a incredible and unexpected felony.
The shock wave caused by Hansen’s decision is even on the way to becoming a state affair. Asked by the national news agency, the AAP, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins admitted to being “dismayed” by this support for the Wallabies. To the question should we sanction Steve Hansen, the head of government replied “We should cancel his citizenship”! Before bursting out laughing and quickly adding, “It’s a joke, to be very clear”…
So much so that Steve Hansen was forced to justify his choice, from Paris, at the microphone of New Zealand radio Newstalk ZB. “I would like to reassure everyone. I didn’t join the Wallabies for the Rugby World Cup. I’m only here for three or four days at the request of Eddie, a good friend of mine. Just to give him feedback on what he does, said the former All Blacks coach. Rugby is bigger than all of us, so I’m happy to do it.”
A spokesman for the Wallabies also wanted to confirm that the New Zealand technician would be present in the team during the week but that he had not accepted a paid role. This allowed a skillful pirouette from Steve Hansen. “The fact is, if you work for someone, you get paid. So I don’t work for anyone…”
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