Rugby: Hansen alarm at silly penalties

Steve Hansen. Photo / Geoff Sloan

The full extent of Steve Hansen's fury will be felt behind closed doors this week as he attempts to drill into his players the need to stamp out silly penalties.

It was the casual and needless acts of stupidity that gifted Ireland nine points which had the All Black coach most alarmed.

The All Blacks have prided themselves on their discipline in recent seasons and there they were last night flopping over the ball in full view of the referee, pulling down scrums and late tackling.

"There were too many errors and there were too many silly penalties," said Hansen. "When the penalties are stupid, that's when you get frustrated.

"We will have to go back and look at how we prepared. We thought we had prepared well but we obviously hadn't because if we had, you don't give away stupid penalties in the red zone."

If that was the focus of his displeasure, the character shown in the last five minutes was the point he and the rest of the team will use as the foundation for the Hamilton test.

Under intense pressure and reduced to 14 men, the All Blacks had no business escaping with a victory.

It took remarkable composure and clarity for them to drive down field, stay focused and play themselves into drop goal territory.

"I can't remember the last time the All Blacks won a test with a drop goal," said Hansen. "I can remember one where we didn't win with a drop goal.

"It was a game we probably shouldn't have won. But our character allowed us to do that and that's a sign of a bloody good side.

"There were a lot of young men and older men, too, who would have had a good reminder about what test rugby is all about." The battle for the All Blacks now will be restoring some venom to their scrum which was strangely out of sorts and seeing how Kieran Read and Adam Thomson hold up during the week.

The prognosis on Read, who suffered another head knock, was encouraging.

He had been dizzy at halftime but was showing strong signs of recovery by the time the game finished. Thomson, who broke his nose recently, took another, major blow to it and is expected to be fine.

Should one or either of them fail to be fit, the temptation will be strong to start 20-year-old Sam Cane who made an encouraging debut.