New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen was left smarting at the suggestion his team “didn’t turn up hungry” in their Rugby World Cup semi-final defeat by England.
The All Blacks succumbed to their first loss at the tournament in 12 years after being outplayed by an English side that produced its greatest performance under Eddie Jones to win 19-7 in Yokohama.
The world champions, whose hopes of a third consecutive title are now in tatters, rarely threatened their opponents throughout the course of the 80 minutes, with Ardie Savea’s unexpected try coming against the run of play.
The English, in contrast, dominated proceedings from the opening whistle, taking the lead after just 90 seconds when Manu Tuilagi surged over from a few metres out. From there, Jones’ men built their lead slowly but surely through the brilliant goal-kicking of recalled fly-half George Ford, who scored 12 points.
The flatness of the All Blacks’ performance led to suggestions in Hansen’s post-game press conference that his men had lacked the necessary hunger to match England’s intensity – a theory the Kiwi angrily rejected.
“I think it’s a disrespectful question to suggest the All Blacks turned up not being hungry,” Hansen said when captain Kieran Read was asked if the side had turned up with the “right mentality”.
“Because I asked at half time for them to get hungrier doesn’t mean to say they didn’t turn up being hungry. There’s a big difference. And if you want to spend some time outside I’ll give you a rugby education on that one.
“But to turn up and say the All Blacks team comes to a semi-final of a Rugby World Cup with the amount of ability and history it’s had behind it, [to say] ‘there’s no hunger’, that’s a pretty average question I reckon.”
Read similarly insisted that his side’s attitude was not the issue.
“I think they did [have the right attitude],” he said afterwards. “You saw how hard we worked out there. The boys definitely wanted it.
“The detail of the match didn’t go our way but our work rate was there.
“When it doesn’t go your way it’s a hard thing to take and I know we’re hurting.”
Despite such a confrontation, Hansen struck a magnanimous tone in defeat as he congratulated England on their victory.
“Congratulations to England, they played a tremendous game of footy and deserved to win,” he said. “You cannot give them half a step, but they took it.
“I am really proud of our team, they have done a tremendous job, but we were not good enough. We take it on the chin, the boys tried their guts out and I am proud of them.”
