Advertisement

‘Not perfect’: what must the All Blacks do to please Steve Hansen after thrashing Springboks?

New Zealand posted a 57-15 over South Africa in the Rugby Championship on Saturday in Durban

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
South African scrum half Faf de Klerk tackles All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick. Photo: AFP

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen refused to get carried away after a 57-15 demolition of arch-rivals South Africa created two records and moved the All Blacks within one victory of another.

Advertisement

“It was a better performance than the last one [winning in Argentina],” said the hard-to-please former policeman who masterminded the 2015 World Cup triumph in England.

“However, it was not a perfect performance so we will not get too carried away,” was his summary of the nine-try romp at Kings Park Stadium in Durban.

“We will enjoy the moment because we managed to play some quality rugby and make some people proud.”

All Blacks fly half Lima Sopoaga goes over for a try that later was disallowed. The nine others that were allowed softened the pain. Photo: AFP
All Blacks fly half Lima Sopoaga goes over for a try that later was disallowed. The nine others that were allowed softened the pain. Photo: AFP
Advertisement

Hansen was speaking soon after the All Blacks beat the Springboks by a record margin, bettering the 52-16 thrashing they dished out in Pretoria 13 years ago.

loading
Advertisement