In New Zealand they are still slowly processing the idea of Steve Hansen, their former World Cup-winning coach, agreeing to help Australia in the lead-up to the World Cup. Even within the All Blacks camp, the jokes are starting to fly. “There must be something in it for him – or he lost a bet,” the lock forward Scott Barrett said drily, when responding to this week’s unlikely sounding news.
Ian Foster, the All Black head coach, was also ready for the inevitable questions and rifled a decent backhand past his inquisitors at the Lensbury Club in Teddington. “Outstanding,” he replied. “He’s agreed to give me three pages of notes about what’s going on [with them]. I’ve got no issues. We might bring him in for a couple of days ourselves.”
It was the perfect tone to adopt, even if Foster’s wry amusement would have been sharply reduced had the Wallabies been on a more direct collision course with the All Blacks in France.
Foster had been tipped off about Hansen’s plan and while it surprised some senior players, including the hooker Dane Coles, the All Black management insist they are entirely relaxed about the situation. “Surely there are other topics to talk about than Steve Hansen going to the Aussies to have a couple of beers with Eddie Jones,” Foster said. “He told me a month ago he was going. He’s good mates with Eddie … but there’s no lack of trust. There’s still a commitment to us and what we do.”
Much more pertinent, from Foster’s perspective, is ensuring his side maintain their pre-World Cup momentum against South Africa at Twickenham on Friday in their final warm-up fixture before heading to France. Whenever the Springboks and All Blacks meet, however, there is no such thing as a “friendly” and Foster has duly named a strong-looking side for a sold-out fixture expected to attract approximately 30,000 more spectators than England’s game on the same pitch the following day.
The matchday 23 contains more than 1,000 Test caps and while injuries continue to sideline Brodie Retallick and Shannon Frizell the presence of Sam Whitelock – poised to close within two of Richie McCaw’s All Blacks record of 148 caps – will keep everyone honest. Foster has named six forward replacements, a nod both to the strength of the Bok pack and his own slightly depleted second-row resources. The reserve scrum-half Cam Roigard and the centre Anton Lienert-Brown are the only backline players on the bench.
It is not a million miles away from the starting XV that New Zealand will probably field in the opening World Cup game against France in Paris in just over a fortnight’s time, assuming their key men come through unscathed against the invariably physical Boks. Foster, though, believes this is not the time to be holding anything back. “It’s too late for us to use this game as a cotton‑wool exercise,” he said. “Clearly there are two or three players we’re looking after from an injury perspective but it’s a great Test match two weeks before a World Cup. The only way to go into this is full throttle.”
All concerned have been equally switched on to the danger of high-tackle misjudgments that will now require England to kick off the tournament without Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola. “That’s on every team’s mind, there’s no doubt,” Foster said. “You only have to go back to the last World Cup to see how cards dominated the pool stages, particularly. The connection between cards and the judiciary … you’ve got to know it’s pretty hard to escape that at the moment.
“But if you define the word ‘discipline’ as ‘technique’, we can control that. We’re working hard to make sure our technique is as good as it needs to be. As a coach and a player you want something you can control. We’re not helpless in this situation. We need to do what we need to do to minimise the risk.”
B Barrett; Jordan, R Ioane, J Barrett, Telea; Mo’unga, Smith; De Groot, Coles, Lomax, S Whitelock, S Barrett, Jacobson, Cane (capt), Savea.
Replacements Taukei’aho, Williams, Newell, Lord, Vaa’i, Papali’i, Roidard, Lienert-Brown
If all this makes New Zealand sound as if they have a lot of boxes ticked before the World Cup, that is definitely how it feels. A heavy defeat against South Africa and a couple more injuries could yet puncture the feelgood vibe but even the warm London midweek weather has been playing ball.
“It is surreal getting up at 5.30am, going for a walk and not having icicles coming out of your nostril,” said Foster, more accustomed to preparing for wintry Tests at Twickenham in November. “We’ve loved our time here.”
