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Steve Hansen gets philosophical discussing 'experience' of young All Blacks who continue to shine at RWC

October 20, 2019

The All Blacks coach said it's not about how much experience a player has, but rather what experiences they've earned.

They may not have as many international caps as some of the opposition they're going up against at this year's World Cup, but All Blacks coach Steve Hansen says the newer, younger members of his squad have something just as, if not more important.

Hansen was asked following last night's 46-14 quarter-final win how much he thought players like Sevu Reece and George Bridge were bringing to the squad despite their lack of experience in the black jersey. 

The coach had an insightful answer prepared.

"Experience is a funny thing, isn't it?" Hansen said.

"What is it that you've experienced is the key and our young guys have a lot of them - they've been involved in championship winning teams in Super Rugby and in big moments.

"That's why you can select them with confidence - they've played well in Test matches we've selected them in so their enthusiasm, excitement and their ability to play the game in the form they're in is really important.

"But so is the leadership and the experience of the guys who have been through the tough moments and have been through knockout football."

The reporter who asked Hansen the question had specifically used Ireland's choice to go with experience for the match as an example.

Hansen continued: "Everyone was talking about how many caps Ireland had but half of our 23 had played in a knockout tournament and won it and that was the difference, wasn't it?

"I'm not being disrespectful here in saying this but Ireland's experience was not to win and we had 11 guys that actually had experience of winning and that's why you've got to be careful when you start talking about experience because sometimes, just because you've played for a long time, you might have learned a lot of things you don't want to learn or you may have learned nothing along the way."

Hansen then wrapped up his little speech with a classic zinger.

"It was a bit like me when I played. I didn't learn much."

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