Steve Hansen answers questions on his team’s high, dangerous tackles… and there isn’t a bitter Irish journalist in sight.
On Tuesday, Sam Cane and Malakai Fekitoa will meet up with rugby officials in London to plead their innocence after they copped a pair of citings.
Cane and Fekitoa, who was yellow carded for his high tackle, were both involved in a dogged defensive effort in their 21-9 win over Ireland at the weekend.
There were not the only ones referred to the citing commissioner but the only two who’s actions were deemed worthy of a closer, disciplinary look:
12 incidents referred to citing commissioner Kiplinski (a Kiwi, incidentally): 11 for NZ, one Irish. Only Cane and Fekitoa cited.
— Peter O'Reilly (@petersuntimes) November 20, 2016
The All Blacks touched down in Paris on Sunday evening and were forced to discuss a topic their coach Steve Hansen did not appear keen to discuss on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium. He told TVNZ:
“They are what they are. We can’t hide from the fact that… particularly Mala’s tackle was high. Clumsy and high.”
Hansen added, “We will defend Sam. We believe it was a head clash [with Robbie Henshaw] but we understand why the citing commissioner wants to cite it. The guy got knocked out.”
Kiwi outhalf Aaron Cruden says the Irish players ‘were fine’ about the physicality of the game after the match. “They knew it was a tough, physical game,” he said. “They play with a lot of passion and so do we.”
Dane Coles, his teammate, says high hits are something New Zealand need to ‘address and improve’ but, for his part, Ireland flanker Josh van der Fler had no major issue with the rough stuff. He told us:
“I suppose when you’re in the lead [the body] probably doesn’t hurt as much, the adrenaline’s going a bit more.
“It was very physical out there, probably similar to Chicago but we didn’t execute as well, which was probably the big difference and all in our control.”
Van der Flier was already moving on. Ireland will do the same as they have a tough Test against Australia coming up on Saturday.
The All Blacks may find this Irish hangover nags at them for a couple more days yet.
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