Rugby World Cup 2015: Steve Hansen on Richie McCaw incident - 'move on'

Francois Louw calls for a blood replacement as Richie McCaw and Jerome Kaino look on. Photo / Getty Images

Nothing to see here, move on.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen was succinct in defending Richie McCaw after the world's media went into overdrive with speculation the All Black captain could miss the Rugby World Cup final.

Hansen saw the scrutiny as a "mark of respect" for a player who rival teams struggled to cope with.

"He's a man that draws a lot of attention because he's a great player, probably the greatest player certainly to play for the All Blacks, maybe even in the history of the game," Hansen said at a press conference at the Oatland's Park Hotel the day after the draining semifinal win.

"So if he's not in your team, then he's a pain in the rear end."

The frenzy was triggered by footage of McCaw colliding with Springbok flanker Francois Louw posted online by a British newspaper and went viral on social media.

As he ran around a ruck to chase the ball, McCaw's elbow appears to make contact with Louw's head and Springbok flanker fell backwards.

Another interpretation was McCaw's hip struck Louw's shoulder as he ran past, that the elbow was an optical illusion.

The suggestion was that McCaw could have been banned for two matches, if the action was deliberate.

But the replay footage was inconclusive, certainly no smoking gun.

Neither looked to be an intentional act and Hansen said the furore about his skipper was typical when the All Blacks toured the United Kingdom.

That was obvious when McCaw was yellow carded in the All Blacks' first game of the tournament against Argentina, for what Hansen described as a "dumb foot trip".

It was seized upon as evidence by the British press, at last, that McCaw was a dirty player and a cheat.

While that was "dumb", Hansen said there was "nothing" in the so-called elbow incident and cited the frenzy as another example of the media trying to get under the skin of the All Blacks.

"You can't get him on the track, so let's get him off the track," Hansen said of the tactic of targeting McCaw.

"There are some people who are a bit bitter and twisted about him but 99 per cent of the people in rugby, while he's not playing against them, like him."

Hansen said the scrutiny of McCaw had reached the point where it was the norm, that if he didn't get some media attention post-match then then he must be playing poorly.

"So he'll take it in his stride...I think it was kicked off by social media and I'm not a big fan of social media.

"It's like people complaining about the haka...they come in pairs."

- By Jared Savage in London