New Zealand coach Steve Hansen believes that England’s new approach is what made them so competitive during the All Blacks’ 24-21 win on Saturday. He also said that TV producers are favouring the home sides when it comes to the big screen replays.
Despite a late England try, New Zealand won the fixture comfortably in the end, but it was close throughout and Hansen says that it is due to England’s move away from an expansive gameplan.
“Every match against England has been physically tough,” Hansen said. “In that first Test in June they should have won and taken advantage of us only having five days to prepare.
“Okay, they had a young side but they still should have won. Our guys found a way to win. The second Test was an even game, there was one point in it, but with seven minutes to go we picked the bag up and went home.
“The last Test in New Zealand we dominated when they tried to play us at our own game, but on Saturday they went back to their old style. They wanted to get physical, drive us and out-scrum us. It is going to be with interest that I watch what they do over the next few weeks.”
He also brought up the issue of television replays on the big screen, saying that local tv producers are in a position to influence referees by showing replays that get the crowd rilled up, and make the officials take notice. He said the same thing after their 27-25 loss to South Africa.
It happened with Dane Coles’ yellow card at Twickenham, as replays were shown and referee Nigel Owens yellow carded the hooker for lashing out with his boot. A similar thing happened late in the game when Charlie Faumuina scored but Owens checked it again after a raucous crowd reaction.
“My biggest concern is that the TV producers are starting to have an influence on the game,” Hansen said. “If something goes wrong, we see a replay 10 times even though the referee hasn’t seen it, the touch judge hasn’t seen it, the TMO hasn’t seen it.
“Referees will make mistakes and some of those mistakes will cost you the game. You’ve got to live with that. The TV producers, they’re starting to annoy me now somewhat,” he added.
View a highlights wrap below, and on page two you can see Steve Hansen’s review of the game in the post match press conference, and short highlights with New Zealand commentary
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