Steve Hansen

Steve Hansen
Date of birth 7 May 1959
Place of birth Mosgiel, Otago, New Zealand
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Centre
Provincial/State sides
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1980–87 Canterbury 21
Coaching career
Years Club / team
1996–2001
2002–04
2011–		 Canterbury
 Wales
 New Zealand
Rugby union career

Stephen William "Steve" Hansen CNZM (born 7 May 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former rugby union player. He is currently the head coach of the All Blacks.

Early life

Hansen was born in Mosgiel, and was educated at The Taieri High School. A rugby union centre, he represented Canterbury at first-class level on 21 occasions.[1]

Coaching career

Canterbury

Hansen coached the Canterbury provincial rugby union team from 1996 to 2001. During his tenure the side won the National Provincial Championship in 1997 and 2001.

Crusaders

In 2000 and 2001, he was assistant coach to Robbie Deans for the Canterbury Crusaders.

Wales

He was the head coach of the Welsh national team. He became the ninth Welsh coach in 13 years, after Graham Henry parted company with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) in 2002. During his first game in charge, Wales performed well but lost by 37–33 to France. This became a familiar theme during his tenure as coach. Events reached a head during 2003 when for the first time in their history Wales lost every match in the Six Nations Championship and went on to record a streak of 11 consecutive Test match defeats, broken by a defeat of rugby minnows Romania on 27 August 2003.[2] Hansen coached Wales during the 2003 Rugby World Cup, in which a strong display against the All Blacks and a spirited quarter final loss against England stopped the criticism of his coaching. He stepped down as Wales head coach in the summer of 2004 after not seeking to renew his contract and was succeeded by Mike Ruddock.

New Zealand

In 2004, he was appointed to the All Blacks as an assistant coach under former mentor Graham Henry. Hansen was considered as a likely candidate to become the next Crusaders coach starting in the 2009 Super 14 season, after Robbie Deans left to coach Australia, but in fact the Crusaders coaching job went to former All Black Todd Blackadder.

2011

Hansen assisted Graham Henry in coaching the All Blacks to a 2011 Rugby World Cup final win against France, ending a 24 year Rugby World Cup winning drought for the All Blacks. It was tipped that Steve Hansen would take over as head coach of the New Zealand All Blacks when Graham Henry's contract expired at the end of 2011. He was formally appointed on 15 December 2011.[3]

2012

In his first games and series as head coach, Hansen guided the All Blacks to a 3–0 games victory over the Irish in the 2012 Ireland rugby union tour of New Zealand, with the final game being a record 60–0 defeat for the Irish. On 25 August the All Blacks under Hansen retained the Bledisloe Cup for a 10th consecutive year after their second match against Australia during 2012 Rugby Championship. He was named IRB Coach of the year for 2012. His only defeat as coach in 2012 came against England, a 38–21 loss on 1 December 2012 in the 2012 end-of-year rugby union tests.

In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours Hansen was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to rugby.[4]

2013

The All Blacks went undefeated in 2013, and Hansen was named IRB coach of the year for the second year running.[5] The All Blacks retained the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup, and won 14 of 14 matches, becoming the first team to ever do this in the professional era. The team finished the year by winning 24–22 against Ireland in the 2013 end-of-year rugby union tests.[6]

International Matches as Head Coach

Note: World Rankings Column shows the World Ranking New Zealand was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches

Record by Country

Opponent Played Won Drew Lost Win ratio (%) For Against
 Argentina 6 6 0 0 100 198 70
 Australia 9 7 2 0 78 274 175
 England 6 5 0 1 83 159 136
 France 4 4 0 0 100 103 41
 Ireland 4 4 0 0 100 148 51
 Italy 1 1 0 0 100 42 10
 Japan 1 1 0 0 100 54 6
 Scotland 2 2 0 0 100 75 38
 South Africa 6 5 0 1 83 159 106
 United States 1 1 0 0 100 74 6
 Wales 2 2 0 0 100 67 26
TOTAL 42 38 2 2 90 1353 665

Honours

See also

References

  1. ↑ Knowler, Richard (9 June 2012). "Steve Hansen's hour of reckoning approaches". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Wales win at last". BBC Sport. 27 August 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2003.
  3. ↑ McKendry, Patrick (1 November 2011). "All Blacks: Devil in detail of hiring process". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  4. ↑ Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours List 2012. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  5. ↑ Napier, Liam (8 December 2013). "Q&A with the All Blacks coach Steve Hansen". Rugby Heaven. Fairfax. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  6. ↑ "Ireland 22 New Zealand 24". Daily Telegraph. UK. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Graham Henry		 All Blacks coach
2012– 		Incumbent