Rival coaches Eddie Jones and Steve Hansen’s 22-year friendship will be untarnished by the result of the Rugby World Cup semi-final, according to the England coach, who said the pair were going to have a drink.
England’s dominant 19-7 win would have no bearing on the pair’s friendship, which went back to 1997 and the early days of Super Rugby.
“I just saw him and we are going to catch up and have a drink,” Jones said when asked about his friendship with Hansen after last night’s semi.
Codie Taylor and Patrick Tuipulotu spoke about the feeling in the All Black dressing room after the loss to England.
“There’s nothing changed in the relationship, he’s a great coach, I think I first coached against him in 1997, he was coaching the Crusaders and I was coaching the Brumbies, we've had some wins and we've had some losses.”
Jones went on to pay credit to Hansen, who is stepping down as All Blacks coach at the end of the tournament after a 15-year association with the team and eight years as head coach.
“He’s a great rugby man, he will go down as one of the great All Black coaches, the thing that has impressed me about him is that he always looks to see what’s best for the game,” he said.
“He’s going to be missed by the game but I’m sure there are going to be opportunity for him to be involved, I know he is coming back here and coaching at Toyota so their cars will run a bit faster, I’m sure he is going to get involved in helping World Rugby, they are not a sponsor are they so I’m probably in trouble there but you know he is a great rugby man.”
Hansen revealed that he and Jones and been exchanging texts in the lead-up to the game.
"I said looking forward to seeing you, and win, lose or draw, we'll have a beer afterwards," Hansen said.
"Coaches, regardless of whether you're playing against their team or not, go through the same emotions and things. You spend a lot of time in the same mental space.”
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