Hansen To Continue All Black Reign

Hansen To Continue All Black Reign Until 2019

Steve Hansen has signed a new deal to continue as All Black coach until the 2019 World Cup in Japan. He has an incredible record as coach winning 52 of his 57 tests in charge losing only 3 and drawing 2.

He was assistant to Graham Henry who took over as All Black coach in 2004 and served his apprenticeship before being handed the big job and since he has taken over he has overseen a second World Cup win while also introducing a new breed of All Black player.

They are just getting better and better as the years move on and outside of current 6 Nations Champions England I can’t honestly see anybody getting anywhere close to them before 2019 comes around.

Ireland will of course be monitoring this situation very closely given that Joe Schmidt has revealed he will make a decision on his long term future in the next few weeks. The talk of Schmidt joining a Super Rugby side as head coach has also intensified with the Chiefs and the Highlanders being tipped as likely destinations if he decides to leave his role as Ireland Head Coach.

Back to Steve Hansen, he will now have the job of keeping his coaching team together right through to 2019. The next few targets are the Rugby Championship, then the Northern Hemisphere tour in November. The big challenge in 2017 will of course be The Lions tour, 12 years after a Dan Carter inspired All Black team destroyed the Lions in three tests although there were a number of other incidents on that ill-fated tour including the Spear tackle involving Brian O Driscoll , Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu.

In spite of that The Lions were totally outclassed in the three tests that saw them whitewasked. The only Series win in New Zealand came in 1971 when a John Dawes captained side won down in New Zealand.

Steve Hansen has signed up to continue the work he started and he now has two new targets, beat The Lions next year and claim a third straight World Cup in Japan in 3 years’ time. For now he can plan for this year’s Rugby Championship and continue the wonderful legacy he has already achieved….

By

Cian Mc Gibney

25/07/2016

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