Bledisloe Cup 2019: All Blacks coach concedes sledging title to Australia
There may have been a total mauling on the pitch but an apparent thawing of All Blacks-Wallabies relations saw a very different Bledisloe post-match to recent years.
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Australia may have lost the Bledisloe Cup for a 17th straight year, but All Blacks coach Steve Hansen says the nation holds one title above all others.
“You’ve got the best nation for sledging in the world, Australia,” Hansen said.
The jibe comes amid an apparent thawing of All Blacks-Wallabies relations, after the two teams spent a considerable amount of time in the Eden Park change-rooms together after the 36-0 win by New Zealand last Saturday.
In previous years, invitations to join the opposition after games has not been taken up as tensions between Hansen and Wallabies rival Michael Cheika simmered.
But the arrival of Rugby Australia’s new director of rugby Scott Johnson – who Hansen praised earlier in the week for the Wallabies’ win in Perth while failing to mention Cheika – has brought the Tasman rivals closer.
“You [media] were the only guys who kept making it not friendly, we’re all big boys, we always know there’s going to be a bit of banter,” Hansen said.
“You’ve got the best nation for sledging in the world, Australia.
“So every now and again someone sledges back, and you think that creates a war. It doesn’t, it’s just good banter.
“The guy that’s running Australian rugby, Scott Johnson, he and I spent a lot of time coaching together in Wales with the Welsh team and we’re still good mates, so it’s only natural you have a beer.”
Hansen was however miffed to wake up and hear the news that Wales had overtaken them as World Rugby’s No.1 ranked team, despite the Bledisloe demolition and the fact Wales have not beaten the All Blacks since 1953.
“How do you work that out? I’ve never understood their system,” Hansen said.
“You win a game and you lose the top ranking.
“We won the Cup last night and lost the ranking, ask yourself how that works.”
Meanwhile, Wallabies centre Samu Kerevi said the Australian squad retains belief they can be successful at the World Cup – where they’ll face Wales in the second pool match – despite the Auckland slaughter.
“We still trust our systems, we trust both defence and attack and we still have belief in what we’re doing,” Kerevi said.
“Even though the scoreline really blew out there, we still believe in what we’re doing.
“We couldn’t do it for the whole 80, little lapses in our game in both attack and defence they countered off, that’s what they do.
“I feel there’s been massive growth not just on the field but off the field as well, it comes back to believing what we’re doing, ticking each day off, ticking each box, believing in the guy next to us and what the staff are doing on and off the field.
“That includes recovery, time spent together, and just building towards something bigger than us that’s coming up, which is the World Cup.”