Tomorrow’s Rugby Championship Test between New Zealand and Australia, which brings together the finalists of last year’s Rugby World Cup, might be a contest of coaches whose personalities have become increasingly evident in the styles of their teams.
The All Blacks are led by Steve Hansen, an unflappable, poker-faced, wryly humorous ex-policeman who coached New Zealand to World Cup victory and whose teams are noted for their steadiness and composure under pressure.
Australia coach Michael Cheika is Hansen’s antithesis — passionate, excitable, given to emotional outburst. His Wallabies team find themselves under pressure after a series loss to England and need to create stability out of a chaotic Super Rugby season.
Photo: AFP
It is Cheika who has tried to turn tomorrow’s match, which is also the first of three Tests between New Zealand and Australia for the Bledisloe Cup, into a rhetorical battle.
In the time-honored manner of coaches, Cheika has tried this week to lure Hansen into a war of words in the hope of diverting onto himself the pressure and scrutiny that might otherwise fall on his players.
It is also likely that Cheika is still smarting from Australia’s recent series against England, in which he was out-thought, out-coached and out-talked by England’s Australian-born coach Eddie Jones.
Jones is a former club teammate of Cheika and knew how easily he could be needled and provoked. Throughout the series he prodded the volatile Cheika and might have been able to distract the Wallabies coach from a necessary focus on his own team as a relatively moderate England team swept the series 3-0.
Hansen then added insult to injury when he said that Cheika had allowed himself to be bullied by Jones.
It was an observation, not meant to cause offense, but Cheika’s resentment has been obvious in the buildup to the Rugby Championship opener, which also involves Argentina and South Africa.
Cheika fired his first shot before the All Blacks landed in Sydney, suggesting Hansen faced some “interesting” selection decisions. On arrival, Hansen said Cheika should concentrate on his own selection issues.
Cheika tried to escalate the dispute by suggesting Hansen’s response indicated that the All Blacks were confident their 13-year Bledisloe Cup reign would not be challenged by this Australia team — a message designed to stir his own players as much as Hansen.
Hansen chose not to respond, concentrating on his side’s injury-marred preparation. Prop Joe Moody and hooker Dane Coles, who were both members of the All Blacks team who won the World Cup final, are unavailable, while center George Moala, who seemed a promising solution to a midfield conundrum, injured a knee in training on Tuesday.
New Zealand are still seeking to fill a void left by the departure of experienced center pairing of Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu, who retired from internationals after the World Cup. Injuries to Moala and Sonny Bill Williams might have added to the All Blacks’ vulnerability in that area.
Cheika has continued to try to fuel a war of words with Hansen whose comments, he said, show what the All Blacks “really think” of Australia.
“I don’t know what he’s upset about. For us, we know how we’re thought of I suppose, we know that they think we’re no chance to do anything,” Cheika said.
Hansen bowed out of the verbal contest early and has focused on preparing a team coming off a 3-0 series win over Wales, but who have injury and form issues, plus a perceived poor record against Australia in Sydney, which translates to one win and a draw for Australia in the past six Tests played in the city.
“This week has been about getting our preparation and attitude dead right and therefore there’s an expectation that this group will bring real intensity, physicality and a high level of skill execution come Saturday,” Hansen said, describing Australia as “one of our most-respected rivals.”
“We’re also playing for the Bledisloe Cup, which, after the Rugby World Cup, is probably the most important trophy we play for,” he said. “Both teams will be desperate to get their hands on it which will create added pressure. It’s about embracing that pressure and taking it on.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
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