There were scant signs on Friday that Steve Hansen is feeling the weight of history on his thick, beer-barrelled shoulders, as the All Blacks seek to become the first team to retain the Rugby World Cup. “Do I look nervous?” New Zealand’s coach joked to laughter. “I can’t wait.
“Look, no one’s done it before so it must be difficult,” he said. “But this team has a lot of talent. It’s got a lot of self-belief. I’m confident what we’ve done the last four years has put us in pretty good shape to give it a good rattle.”
There was no bombast in Hansen’s words, just a quiet confidence which comes when your team has lost only three of 47 Tests since the last World Cup. And while history might be against the All Blacks retaining the trophy, experience is on their side. When they line up against Argentina at Wembley on Sunday their starting XV will contain 1,013 caps – trumping their own previous world record of 966 set in the 41-13 Bledisloe Cup victory over Australia in August.
Hansen has made only one change from that team, bringing in Jerome Kaino for Victor Vito, but he knows that Argentina present a muscular test. “They will be really dangerous,” he said. “They have already beaten South Africa this year and they beat them well. While the Rugby Championship was on, they didn’t play their best side the whole tournament because guys were injured or working in a pre-season environment but this will be their best side for a while. And when they’re at their best, they’re very good.”
But the All Blacks have always been that bit better. The teams have met 21 times in Tests and only once, in 1985, have Argentina left the field without tasting defeat (the game in Buenos Aires was drawn 21-21). In the past four years they have faced each other eight times, with the All Blacks winning all eight by an average of 21 points. Coincidentally that is the margin of victory the bookies forecast on Sunday.
Hansen believes the Argentinian scrum could cause some problems. “They’re a big unit and a good unit,” he said. “We expect a really physical battle but they’ve got some classy backs too. And what we know about the World Cup is that every team will play at a higher ability.”
His captain Richie McCaw, playing in his 17th World Cup match, echoed those sentiments: “They’ve shown in the last couple of outings against the Springboks that they’ve got the ability. It makes for a bit of edge. We just have to make sure we get stuck in because there is no doubt they will.”
Both men were speaking in the Wilkinson room at their hotel in Teddington, which has named all its meeting rooms after England players. When Hansen was asked about the form of his own fly-half, Dan Carter, he issued a positive bulletin. “He’s looked pretty good in training. He’s gone through a tough period with injuries. We couldn’t get three Test matches in a row out of him. But that’s behind us, he’s got a lot of confidence and his last Test match was superb, very close to him at his best. I’m sure he’ll improve throughout the tournament.”
Such was the relaxation in the New Zealand camp that Hansen even risked a joke when asked whether the referees would consistently and accurately apply the rules. “Why don’t you give me a shotgun and tell me to shoot myself?” he said, smiling, before adding: “They’re going to miss some things and they’ll make mistakes, just as I do as coach and as the players do, but if they are consistent, then nobody has any complaints.”
Hansen even said he is happy for his squad to enjoy a beer if they liked. “Not too many pints, but they can have one if they want,” he insisted. But his players know they will have to earn it first.
