All Blacks coach Steve Hansen hits back at Sir Gordon Tietjens: 'He's looking for excuses'

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen. Photo Shane Wenzlick / www.photosport.co.nz

Steve Hansen has fired back at criticism from Sir Gordon Tietjens and suggestions the All Blacks had too much influence over the selection of the men's sevens team for last year's Olympic Games.

Tietjens, in his new book Legacy, takes aim at New Zealand Rugby and All Blacks management for what he considered a lack of support after the likes of Beauden Barrett, Ardie Savea and Ben Smith turned their back on the chance to push for an Olympic medal in Rio.

Tietjens was particularly critical of a meeting in mid-2015 where Smith's availability was debated.

All Blacks coach Hansen and assistant Ian Foster, along with NZR chief executive Steve Tew, general manager of rugby Neil Sorensen and high performance manager Don Tricker, all attended.

Tietjens went on to question NZR's leadership in a year where the national body publicly stated Olympic gold for both the men's and women's teams were dual priorities.

Asked about his reaction to Tietjens' comments after touching down in London, Hansen made it clear the long-serving sevens coach had been stubborn in his approach to Smith in particular.

"He's got to sell his book so he's got to put something of interest in there. People are going to get excited about it but we've already talked about it," Hansen said.

"Yep, I did say why does Ben Smith have to play four tournaments? I thought he could've played one or none he was that good. That's the only way he was going to go because he didn't want to leave the Highlanders.

"That's what we tried to explain to him [Tietjens] and he made the choice himself. I'm not sure why he's saying there was no leadership - the leadership falls on his head. The conditions of Ben Smith playing - coming from Ben Smith himself - were that he was available but he didn't want to play four tournaments.

"When he [Tietjens] heard that he made a decision. It's his decision to make. No-one else interfered with that decision. I think he's looking for excuses personally but it'll sell a few books I suppose."

The revelations come as no great surprise. Discontent between Tietjens and NZR lingered long before the New Zealand men's team crashed out of the Olympics with a quarterfinal loss to Fiji, who went onto claim their first gold medal.

Tietjens' squad was also hit hard by injuries, losing Sonny Bill Williams, Augustine Pulu, Ben Lam and Joe Weber among others, in what some believe was a sign he overworked the players.

Since leaving New Zealand Rugby he has since linked up with the Samoan sevens team.