World Cup-winning head coach Steve Hansen has endorsed the current All Blacks squad after they completed their fourth win of the year over the Wallabies in Dunedin by 23-20.
The former All Blacks coach said the current side is looking ‘stronger’ than the team that he took to Japan four years ago at the last Rugby World Cup.
Hansen’s last All Black team claimed bronze over Wales after falling short to England in the semi-final as they attempted to become the first nation to win three consecutive William Webb Ellis trophies.
“They’re playing well. They’ve got a lot of self-belief and you saw that on Saturday when they come from behind, with what was a very young team on the park, and they found a way to win it. I think all systems are go,” Hansen told Newstalk ZB.
“They’ve set out a plan that they wanted to win the Rugby Championship and to get some confidence in the team after last year. So they went about that and won every test match.
“They secured the Bledisoe Cup and that allowed them to experiment. So you can’t knock their plan. I think it’s been outstanding.”
Under Hansen’s former assistant Ian Foster and new assistants Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan, the 2023 side became the first All Black team to win the Rugby Championship in a World Cup year with previous attempts in 2015 and 2019 failing.
Foster has talked about taking ‘strong steps’ forward as the side ‘ticks off’ each goal towards their campaign in France.
Hansen shared some of the thinking when it comes to selecting a squad for the World Cup with versatility high on the priority list due to restrictions around squad sizes and replacing injured players.
“I think they played well. So this comes down now as selectors. How can they get the 33 people that suit tournament rugby?” Hansen said.
“The World Cup is not like a normal tour. There’s certain restrictions that you can and can’t do and you can’t just up and replace people. So you’ve got to have a bit of utility in your squad.
“Everybody’s put their hand up and now it’s just a matter of the selectors sorting out what they want and there will be some really good players miss out, which is tough but bodes well for the team itself.
“I think they’ll end up selecting a side that’s stronger than 2019 that we took to the last World Cup.
“They’re going to go there with a lot of confidence and with a lot of players in form, whoever is the 34th guy is gonna be pretty unlucky.”
