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Home / Sport / Rugby / All Blacks

Past glories prove heavy burden

Wynne Gray
By Wynne Gray
21 Nov, 2002 07:07 AM4 mins to read

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By WYNNE GRAY

Same Floppy hair, same droll sense of humour, same Steve Hansen really.

He has trimmed a bit of weight, but sounds much as he did in his early days with Canterbury and the Crusaders, except he uses the proper noun Wales instead of his red and black heritage.

Rugby
rehabilitation in the principality requires surgery in four areas just as it did in Canterbury when professionalism hit the area in 1995. There is no quick fix, just hard work in changing the administration, creating development and coaching systems and unearthing several world-class players.

Hansen has given himself until 2004 to establish the foundation stones and make progress - then it will be time to move on.

He has two young sons, Jonty, 4, and Ollie, 8 months, with him and wife Jill in Wales, but misses his two teenage daughters from a previous marriage, who remain in New Zealand.

For now he lives in the suburb of Lisvane, about 10 minutes drive from the centre of Cardiff. Neighbours have made his family very welcome and keep an eye on them when Hansen is away on his rugby work.

"They drop in for a chat or a beer. The people have been fantastic to Jill and the boys," he said.

"I think life here is what I expected and I do not think it has changed me. But the job is very time-consuming and has taken me away from my family more than I thought."

It has even sabotaged his racing interests, allowing the keen punter to get to just two race meetings in the year since he took over as national coach from Graham Henry.

He has struck the same issues which confronted and finally defeated Henry.

Wales expect from their rugby all the time. They expect past glories to be repeated, even though there is a consistent refusal to make changes.

An example is the nine clubs who try to play in the European competition when the reality is Wales should support only about three quality sides.

Wales have the same rugby expectations as New Zealand. But while New Zealand have loads of talent and an environment which encourages those gifts, Wales live off past glories and have lost sight of reality.

Hansen recalled the first time he left for a Six Nations test in Ireland. The team were feted by larger crowds at their airport departure than the throng who turned out to welcome home the Crusaders and their Super 12 titles.

When Wales returned in defeat, the airport was deserted.

In his search for success, Hansen expects there to be some "cage rattling" from former New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive David Moffett, who takes over soon at Sport Wales.

On Sunday, Hansen will discover the same emotions his opposite John Mitchell experienced when he was involved in the England coaching set-up. It will not stop Hansen singing both national anthems.

"Why not, you don't stop becoming a New Zealander," he said.

When he leaves in 2004 - destination unknown, though it would not be silly if he took over from Robbie Deans at the Crusaders - Hansen wants to have improved the rugby scene enough so a Welsh coach can succeed him.

He also aims to redirect some of the media he claims poison the scene for others.

Hansen estimates 80 per cent of the media are fine, but the rest ruin it.

"Most coaches and players do not trust them because they have been shat on by these people, and that is not good for the game."

It sounds like the sort of propaganda which is exerted on the Christchurch media, a tactic which works because their teams have been successful. But, to use a rugby phrase, respect has to be earned, not assumed.

Hansen has always been big on his analogies. String, fish and horses are regular subjects in his verbal imagery and yesterday he said if he succeeded in Welsh rugby it would be like the 750 sherpas who began the successful haul by Tenzing and Sir Edmund Hillary to the top of Everest.

A rugby coach is only as good as the foundations and helpers beneath him. Hansen must be holding his breath, knowing what has gone before him, having seen the support cut away from Henry by an impatient scarlet nation.

All Blacks test schedule/scoreboard

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