Wellington: Coach Steve Hansen said Wednesday there was no complacency in the All Blacks’ camp, with fresh World Cup challenges looming and memories of the New Zealanders’ worst-ever defeat still haunting them.
The defending champions entered the last tournament in 2011 determined to end a 24-year World Cup drought and cast off a reputation for choking on the big stage. With that mission accomplished, Hansen said the 2015 All Blacks had new goals: becoming the first New Zealand team to win the Webb Ellis trophy on foreign soil, and the first from any nation to successfully defend the crown.
“You’ve still got a monkey on your back because you’ve got to win it. There’s an expectation to win it same as there was in the last one (2011),” he told reporters.
“The difference is we’re going offshore, there’s a massive excitement about the challenge we’ve got. We’re trying to do something no other team has done before.
“This team needs big challenges. They’ve been the number one side in the world for a long time and you can’t just keep plodding along doing what you used to do.”
Hansen said New Zealand’s shock loss to France in the quarter-finals of the 2007 World Cup remained etched in the All Blacks’ collective psyche, ensuring they would not allow standards to slip.
Hansen was an assistant coach under Graham Henry for that match, when the heavily favoured All Blacks swaggered into Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and paid the price as Les Bleus carved out an inspired 20-18 win.
“Everyone remembers 2007, whether you were there watching or back home, whether you were a player or a media person - no one’s forgotten it,” he said.
“It’s a great reminder to all of us that if you don’t step up you go home.”
Meanwhile, Ireland believe they are taking a calculated risk by bringing only two recognised scrumhalves to the World Cup as flyhalf Ian Madigan has been quietly preparing to be named as emergency cover, coach Joe Schmidt said in Dublin.
While Ireland can call up a replacement scrumhalf within 48 hours if Conor Murray or Eoin Reddan are unable to play, an injury on the eve of a game would leave them relying on a player who has little or no experience at number nine.
“There’s a degree of risk no matter what you do and we just feel it’s something we can manage with the cover that we have got,” Schmidt told a news conference.
“I’d like to think it’s calculated, I’d like to think we’ve given it as much thought as we could and we just felt that it allowed us a little bit more flexibility further out.” While some coaches have opted to bring two hookers, Schmidt followed Australia’s Michael Cheika in gambling at scrumhalf.
