Hansen bristles at questions over refereeing in NZ win

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has laughed off New Zealand counterpart Steve Hansen’s claim that the All Blacks will be underdogs when the teams meet for a second time in a fortnight at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. More needs to come from the man just announced as World Rugby Player of the Year.

The visitors – determined to exact revenge for Ireland’s 40-29 triumph on November 5 in Chicago, its first victory over the All Blacks in 111 years – stifled Irish scoring opportunities with bruising defence, last-ditch turnovers, and frequent disruptive fouls.

“You certainly wouldn’t put us as favourites against a team that won 18-in-a-row against some of the best teams in the world and did it by some margin”, Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said, referring to the record winning streak the Irish also broke.

In the wake of that Soldier Field defeat, Hansen insisted New Zealand had turned up with the right mental focus in Chicago.

After the historic Irish win in Chicago, the All Blacks looked to have set the tone in the opening three minutes as they roared out of the traps. “They are what they are”.

If they successfully win the mental battle, and keep the scoreboard creeping upwards, they have an excellent chance of becoming the first home nation to achieve back-to-back victories against New Zealand since England over 10 years ago.

Did you feel Sexton managed to hold up Barrett? “We’ve put a lot of onus on communication and calling that space and the execution”. It’s probably better than the 12/1 or 13/1 we were in Chicago. “I think there were a few times where there was good communication, just other other times maybe not so much”.

“If everyone performs their core roles such as lineouts, defence and kicking that should fix our performance and take it to another level”. New Zealand were on the back of a flawless Rugby Championship (six matches, six wins, six bonus points) and will want to get back on track after the defeat a fortnight ago.

Day passes, which let you add Sky Sports channels for 24 hours, start at £6.99 a day, with a weekly pass starting from £10.99, and no locking in to a contract.

“Complacency won’t be a problem”, said Hansen, who signed a new contract this year that will take him up to the 2019 World Cup.

He just wanted to see consistency after alleging Irish halfback Conor Murray committed the same ruck infringements as Smith.

“Well if the players aren’t self-motivated then they shouldn’t be playing Test rugby”.

But Best said the label was no more than media chatter, and the furthest thing from his troops’ minds as the rematch approached.

There was consternation from the home support, but while Barrett’s try was still being debated as they departed into the night, the All Blacks’ first score was the handsome result of some hard work on the training pitch. But it is telling that Hansen believes they can still get better.

As a New Zealander and a rugby tragic, you would have to think that the All Blacks will be so pissed off about the Chicago defeat that they will run amok.