All Black coach Steve Hansen says one of the men in black’s most memorable victories of recent years came to mind when his side was working its way to victory on Saturday night.
Coming back from 17 points down after 15 minutes, the All Blacks scored a try with just over two minutes left to beat the Wallabies 35-29 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Hansen said the comeback reminded him of the test against Ireland in Dublin in 2013 when the All Blacks went the length of the field to win the game in injury time.
‘‘I thought of 2013. You look at the clock and it’s 77 minutes.
To be able to keep your composure and come back and score off that will be massive and good for them,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘They will understand it is about staying in the moment and keeping their attention where it needs to be. Just doing the thing you need to do well. That will be a great lesson for them, they will get some trust and belief and grow a little stronger.’’
All Black captain Kieran Read played a big part in the final try and Hansen said it was just what was needed from the No 8.
‘‘That is what you want from your skipper. That is why you have made him skipper.
‘‘You need to get really specific. Under the posts he said ‘Right, we want a short kick and I’ll get up and get it’ ... he made it really simple to everyone on what their role was, rather than everyone panicking about what we had to do to win.’’
Yesterday, Hansen said everyone had pulled up well from what was a bruising game.
Flanker Sam Cane and midfielder Ryan Crotty would go through the normal protocols following head knocks on Saturday night.
Prop Owen Franks is unlikely to play in the rest of the Rugby Championship but could be a chance for the end of year tour if his Achilles can improve through a lighter training load.
The match on Saturday was intense but it was also long.
The first half lasted about 52 minutes and the second half was just short of 50 minutes because referee Nigel Owens regularly referred to the television match official.
Hansen had sympathy for the referee but felt he should be braver in making calls.
‘‘I would like to see the referee back his instinct. It should be, ‘Is there any reason why I can’t award the try?’ If there is foul play, there is foul play. If they think they have seen foul play then they have to use it [technology].
‘‘The technology is there. You’ve got to make sure when you use it you get it right. If they don’t use it they get growled out. If they overuse it, we moan at them. They can’t win.
‘‘This is one of my bugbears about the game. The game is very difficult to referee because we leave it open to all these different interpretations. The only person who cops it in the neck is the ref.
‘‘We’ve got to go away and simplify it. The rulebook is too complicated and lots of it does not equate to the game. What it says in the pages of the rulebook don’t exist in the game, so get rid of it and make it simpler.
‘‘When it is 60-40 or even 50-50 then just score the try. The game is about scoring points, so we want to encourage teams to score points.’’
