‘Pretty obvious what they’re trying to do,’ says NZ coachAll Blacks face
South Africa in Saturday’s pool gameNew Zealand’s head coach Steve Hansen has rebuked his counterpart Rassie Erasmus for attempting to influence the French referee Jérôme Garcès ahead of Saturday’s pool game between the two southern hemisphere heavyweights. Erasmus has suggested the Test arena is now so competitive that the era of the All Blacks potentially benefitting from marginal refereeing decisions as the best side in the world should theoretically be over.
Having named a starting XV with Beauden Barrett at full-back, Richie Mo’unga at fly-half and the relatively inexperienced George Bridge and Seru Reece on the wings, Hansen said Erasmus’s comments were out of order. “It’s pretty obvious what they’re trying to do,” said Hansen, who will be stepping down as All Blacks coach after the tournament. “Whilst I’ve got a lot of respect for South Africa and particularly Rassie, I don’t agree with what he’s doing. He’s trying to put pressure on referees externally and they’re under enough pressure already. They don’t need us coaches doing what he’s doing.