Steve Hansen: On Rassie & Why Elite Coaches Need An Ego

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Steven Kitshoff (0:56)

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Steven Kitshoff (1:30)

What's your thoughts on Rassie?

Steve Hansen (1:32)

Like everyone has an ego. You gotta have an ego to be good. He cares about his players. He cares about his country. He will keep creating an environment that has a little bit of discomfort in it.

He's got this dish of cards he plays where he'll keep some of those cool players in the 15 and the 23 and he'll add in the new guys.

Steven Kitshoff (1:50)

The Boks have seen off everyone so far this year, now they're in Australia. Will this be their toughest test yet?

For The Love Of Rugby South Africa is brought to you by Pick'n'Pay ASAP, where you can eat like a champion. Download the app today and get your deliveries fresh, fast and easy. Today, we are joined from Australia and New Zealand by Rugby royalty. Rugby Unity's World Cup winning all-black coach Steve Hansen and World Cup winning player and former Aussie coach Ewen McKenzie. Steve, I actually want to get into a little bit of Rassie chat with you and just your understanding of what makes him the person he is, because going into Australia, going to Perth, coming off RGR, like this important series that happened. What's your thoughts on Rassie and how do you think he will approach this game in Australia?

Steve Hansen (2:41)

Well, I think he's a person who loves winning and he's a smart man.

He cares about his players, he cares about his country and he cares about the people within the organisation. So when you get a combination like that, I don't think the players will be allowed to get comfortable. He will keep creating an environment that has a little bit of discomfort in it. And they'll understand his expectations and why he's got them. And they'll have real clarity around how they want to play with him and Tony Brown there. So I think going into this test match, they've obviously gone to Tiragol, I heard earlier, which is where their World Cup base is. So already they're thinking ahead, their future planning for making sure people aren't going somewhere at World Cup time and not have a feel for it, not knowing what they're going to expect. They'll know what to expect when they go there during the World Cup.

They will have a bit of travel because of that though. So how they adjust to that will be important. I think it's a, what did you say? You're in three or four hours from Tarragul to that. Two hours? It's a couple of hours to the airport and then you've got the five hours on a flight. So there's a bit of travel left and you've got a couple of hours at least or maybe three hours in the time zone change again. So there's a little bit of work for them to do in that area in the game week. So yeah, that's a bit of a challenge. But I think that shows something about Rassie too. He's prepared to roll the dice. So he can be prepared better. He and the players and the staff that are all going to go to the World Cup will have experienced that. So he's rolling the dice here versus the travel fatigue. And that's something that I think is a smart play.