As the Wallabies gear up to end their two-decade Bledisloe Cup drought, World Cup-winning All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has offered a frank assessment of Australia’s shortcomings.
Speaking exclusively with The Roar Rugby podcast, Hansen opened up about his brief stint in the Wallabies’ camp ahead of the 2023 World Cup.
The former All Blacks coach made headlines when he accepted Eddie Jones’ invitation to join the Wallabies setup in Paris last August, but what he saw left him concerned.
“If you went through and wrote down everything that you would expect a high-performance Test athlete to have, then I would suggest that maybe some of those things are missing,” Hansen said.
“There were things that I saw that surprised me, and I’m not going to go into those things, but if you haven’t got your high performance right, then players aren’t going to arrive at the Test arena with all the things they need ticked and understood.”
Hansen explained how this gap in preparation leaves players struggling to adapt at the highest level.
“That makes it hard because you’ve got to learn it at the very highest level. And for me, that’s what rugby’s about at the lower levels. You’re preparing people to be better at a higher level.”
Hansen, who was an assistant under Graham Henry when the All Blacks ended their World Cup drought in 2011 and later led them to victory in 2015, also pointed to a cultural issue in Australian rugby.
“I think good rugby players come out of good high-performance environments,” he explained.
“If you allow too many people into those environments without having to work too hard, then you get a soft underbelly.”
Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
