Rugby World Cup 2023: Sir Steve Hansen latest in line of infamous New Zealand sporting turncoats

In joining the Wallabies in an advisory role ahead of the Rugby World Cup, Sir Steve Hansen has created quite the fuss.

The short-term, non-paid role is a favour to Wallabies coach and personal friend Eddie Jones but it has caught some All Blacks off-guard.

The man who was far from happy when Sir Graham Henry joined the Pumas coaching staff in 2012, less than a year after leading the All Blacks to World Cup victory in 2011, has done even worse.

The Wallabies are New Zealand’s mortal enemies; how can Hansen possibly see the good in this? Who knows what master-manipulator Jones could extract from Hansen’s brain?

The 2015 World Cup-winning All Blacks coach has unique knowledge of how the New Zealand team is put together and this decision may come back to haunt him.

But it’s not the first time a New Zealand sporting legend has become a turncoat and helped the opposition.

Sir Russell Coutts & Brad Butterworth

Few sportspeople have divided the nation quite like Sir Russell Coutts.

Russell Coutts celebrating in 2003. Photo / Photosport

One of New Zealand’s finest ever yachtsmen, Coutts will forever be remembered for switching from Team New Zealand to the Swiss team Alinghi in 2000.

He became a national hero in 1995 after skippering Black Magic to America’s Cup victory before defending it again in 2000 for Team New Zealand.

But in May 2000, months after the defence, Coutts and his tactician Brad Butterworth left Team New Zealand to sail for the Swiss challenger Alinghi, which challenged and won the 2003 America’s Cup.

The decision to leave Team New Zealand left a bitter taste in many Kiwi sailing fans and Coutts made it worse upon his return to Auckland, thumping Team New Zealand 5-0 in the final.

In 2013, Coutts was the chief executive of Oracle Team USA that came back from 8-1 down to Team New Zealand at San Francisco to win 9-8.

Sir Graham Henry

Less than a year after leading the All Blacks to World Cup victory on home soil in 2011, Sir Graham Henry joined the Argentina coaching staff as an adviser.

The decision irked then-All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen.

It came as the Pumas, who reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2011, would join South Africa, Australia and the All Blacks in what was previously the Tri-Nations — then to be known as the Four Nations.

Henry, who coached the All Blacks to 88 wins in 103 tests for a winning percentage of 85.4 per cent, worked part-time mentoring Argentina’s high performance coaches and, to be fair, had the blessing of the New Zealand Rugby Union.

Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith in 2011. Photo / Photosport

Brendon McCullum

Seeing Brendon McCullum in England kit is just plan weird despite the fact cricket is more common for mercenaries than other sports.

The former Black Caps captain accepted the role with England as test coach in May 2022 for a reported NZ$3.9m over four years.

It’s not the big pay packet that annoyed fans, which is common now in cricket, but the fact he joined the same nation who won the 2019 Cricket World Cup by the narrowest of margins.

McCullum was the catalyst behind New Zealand’s emergence as a major force in the test game — the Black Caps won the inaugural world test championship in 2021.

And now the wheels appear to be falling off.

It’s hard to bag one of the all-time greats for taking the next step in his career, and he did choose Otago over New South Wales when given the option at the 2009 T20 Champions League to show his loyalty, but something needs to be done to bring McCullum back to New Zealand’s shores.

(Daniel Vettori was close to being included on this list after taking up a full-time gig with arch-rivals Australia as an assistant coach).

Luke Kirkness is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously worked as consumer affairs correspondent for the Herald and as assistant news director for the Bay of Plenty Times. He won Student Journalist of the Year in 2019 at the Voyager Media Awards.