Scott Hansen: All Blacks assistant coach on the All Blacks beating out Argentina in Cordoba

The All Blacks have made a positive start to their Rugby Championship campaign, with a 41-24 victory over Argentina in Cordoba.

New Zealand stunned the hosts with a four-try first half onslaught, to lead 31-10 at the break.

Los Pumas came back with two tries in the second half to close the gap to seven, before a double to hooker Samisoni Taukeiaho snuffed out a fight back.

All Blacks assistant coach Scott Hansen says their ultimate goal was to get the job done.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
But to Weekend Sport on News Talks THEB on Jason Pine,
August seventeen, All Blacks forty one, Argentina, twenty four. We're
going to get you straight to cord Doba, where All
Black's assistant coach Scott Hanson is standing by. Scott, thanks
for your time across New Zealand, only an hour or
so after the full time whistler is blind. Can we
address the first twenty minutes of the second half? First?

(00:32):
How did you see that period of the game from
the coaching box?

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Are you officilely boring?

Speaker 4 (00:38):
Jason? The word would be challenging, not so comfy sitting
in the box watching that. Some messages at half time
around how we continue it off by pressure? Didn't quite
get that the way we wanted to. There'll be some learnings,
but we need to be better than that.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, you certainly were better though in the twenty minutes
after that, and I know you and the coaching staff
talked a lot about the last twenty minutes of test
matches last year. How happy were you with the way
you played in the final twenty of the game.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Oh, you know, it's a fair question to ask the
final twenty. But let's take the context of the game
and what we're needed to do and that was the
car and get a performance that gave us and what
it gave us was a bonus point one, so we'll
take that. Yes, we'll acknowledge the twenty minutes, the first
twenty minutes in the second half and also the end

(01:30):
of the game. Will we managed it better around our momentum,
defended a little bit better in the middle of the
field and the like.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
So it's a fair question.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
But what we've got to understand also is we're happy
to get the bonus point one and get out of here,
take our learnings and we'll get into bon Asari's next week.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
The first half performance thirty one ten at halftime, What
was your overall assessment of the first forty.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
Yeah, I think just watching it live and again, Jose,
I haven't watched it again, but sitting sitting up and
watching it live. When we shifted the ball, while when
we had good mintum, we were hard to handle. So
it's really positive around our game, plus a really good
pressure around our set piece. Obviously, I think we can
be really proud and confident of what our scrum and
also our driving all gave us and this test. So

(02:20):
that's definitely really positive platforms to work off. Jason Ryan
doing a great job there for us, So a lot
of positives around that. What that gave us even working
into the second half and we needed to find a
bit of momentum. Just their ability to go to our
forwards and go boys give us what we needed and
they did a great job for us.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, the set piece stats are really impressive. You want
all your line outs and a bunch of theirs as
well as scrum was strong, what was the reason for
the really good set piece showing in this one in
your mind?

Speaker 4 (02:53):
We've got a good pack. We've got a good pack
that we're understood tonight. There's the end of the Test
match when we needed to play pressure in the air,
especially to them all in the corner, which is essentially
with us working to save that bonus point and affords it.
A fantastic job there applying the pressure in the air
and well led from the group Scooter Barrett coming back

(03:16):
from injury and getting his fifty minutes in so in
some rotation and then with our substitutions coming on early
and just feeling the game. So a lot of real
positives there around what we can build off.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
You alluded to it there, but just to confirm Scott
Barrett was on managed minutes on his return.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
Was he oh, not so much managed because he's All
Black captain. We needed to do what we needed to do.
We just fell for him because he's come back and
he's been out of the game a little bit. It's
just important that we set him up well for the season.
We're going well at that time and the.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
Call was too.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
We felt the momentum was there and obviously we're going
to look at that and say, well, okay, when could
have have been managed possibly differently, but at that time
for us, it was the right call.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
You see an improvement from the French series and your
team in key areas today.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, I think we continue to improve. Is again around
our cpiece, defensive in the middle of the field. At
some stages there collision wise really good. There's always areas
we want to be better in and we'll go in.
And the thing with the boys coming in the shit
Jason was a lot of them said straight away, okay, well,

(04:34):
obviously Monday's review is going to show us this. But
what we have to acknowledge also is a lot of
positives and when we use the ball on our terms,
when we use our skill set well, as we discussed earlier,
we were hard to manage. So we're really happy to
leave Cordova with the bonus point and what's going to
be a really challenging competition.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
So what will this do in terms of your selection
for the second test? The fact that you've won taken
the bonus point, will that give you the opportunity to
tinker a bit or with this being the only test
now before, will you get back for that massive one
against South Africa and Auckland, will you look to roll
out your strongest side again?

Speaker 4 (05:14):
Oh, first and foremost, we'll grab the group and we'll
see where the our health wise is. One or two
boards have taken. It was a tough test physically, speaking
to the boys Pabliamentary in the luck, it was a
tough physical test. So we'll we gather tomorrow morning.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
We'll see where we're at. We'll look forward to next
week and we'll as we always do, select the group
that we feel is going to give us the best
opportunity against what's going to be Argentina in our next test.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
You Withdrew Cortez Latma after fifty minutes. Can you give
us the thought process there?

Speaker 4 (05:51):
Oh, we had a good momentum into that stage. We
felt getting finlay On would give us what we needed
around that. We've also got to get some get him
into our game. Also, he's had.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
A really good work with us.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
He's got a great relationship with Body barrett a team,
so we're really confident with that decision. Cortez gave us
some good energy and playing that game. It was just
an opportunity of that time to get for me On.
Now he's got some minutes on the jersey, he's a
way more comfortable around that game, so we're happy with
what it did for him.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
The wind takes you back to number one in the world,
Scott for the first time since November twenty twenty one.
I know it's not probably not a key motivator for you,
but is it a source of pride to be back
at the top of the world rankings?

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Sorry, I didn't know that. It's not something we've spoken
about this week. What we're spraining about is winning this test.
But if that's the case in here. We should be
proud of that because what that's showing is that we're
working well, we're growing, and we're a team that honest
day can be the best in the world. So you know,

(06:58):
I think we should be positive and out of that
as a nation.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, I think the fact you didn't know probably answers
the question. But yeah, it's a nice little byproduct of
the victory this morning and just before you go, you
probably haven't had the chance to watch it yet, but
what did you make of the news out of Johannesburg
Wallaby's thirty eight spring box twenty two unbelievable?

Speaker 4 (07:20):
Unbelievable. I watched the first half. We had meetings in
the second half and I thought the South Africans were
dominant in the first half. A great test from the
South Africans and then to hear the result of the
second half, that's fully there's nothing guaranteed around Test match footy.

(07:42):
Obviously the Wallabies have gone at a half time, they've
been clear, calm. There was opportunities in the first half,
but they've stayed there. Listening to guys that have watched
the game, it sounds like they were really resilient, defensively,
took some moments long long field position in regards to

(08:03):
try it is having to work for a distance. I
spoke to Ardie about it and we've both said, well
that's test footy and there's nothing guaranteed in it. So
well on to the Wallabies and it's going to be
a fantastic competition in the Rugby Championship.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Well onto the All Blacks as well, Scott, enjoy this result,
all the best for a great week ahead as you're
prepared for Buenos Aires. Thanks for joining us across New
Zealand on ZEDBY.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
Thank you, mate, really appreciate that. Thank you, Jason, all.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
The best, Scott, Thank you indeed, Scott Hanson. They're joining
us from as you can probably hear, just outside the
changing sheds in Cord Dooba where the All Blacks have
achieved victory by forty one points to twenty four. We
wanted to get to Scott Hanson pretty much straight away.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
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