Steve Hansen: 'One of the great learnings I got was with Razor'
Before he was challenging players as a coach, Scott Robertson was challenging coaches as a player. Perhaps unwittingly, a young Razor once sparked a moment that Sir Steve Hansen now labels one of his "great learnings".
A coach with both Canterbury and the Crusaders from 1996 until 2001, Hansen's coaching debut in red and black aligned with Robertson's rookie season. Hansen, along with Sir Wayne Smith and later Robbie Deans, introduced the young back-rower to the world of professional rugby.
As it would turn out, Robertson would also introduce the soon-to-be All Blacks assistant to a new approach to communicating with players.
"One of the great learnings I got was with Razor actually," Hansen told the Canterbury Rugby Coaches Corner podcast.
"Razor, as a player - great player - but he would get out there and it was like a little kid when they get up in the morning, they're charging and they're banging into everything and because of that, making mistakes.
"Razor would do that when he was playing so I would say to him 'Look Razor, just 95 miles an hour when you first get out there and let's ease our way into the game.'
"One day he said to me 'I wish you'd stop saying that, because I find it negative.' And I go 'oh, sh*t.'
"He said 'I knew I shouldn't have told you. I knew shouldn't have.'
"I said 'No, I'm not angry because you told me, I'm angry because you've waited six games to tell me. I'm trying to get you to be better, I'm not trying to put things in your head that are going to make you feel worse.'
"So, from that, I learnt the phrase when you say something and it might be a little edgy, it might be a little negative, or it might even be positive, follow it up with something like 'What did you hear me say?'
"They might say 'Well I heard you say I played bad'. 'No, that's not what I was saying. What I'm saying is today probably wasn't one of your best games that I've seen you play, you still played pretty good, but here's a couple of things that I think were missing today. Now what did you hear me say?'
"You force each other to have a conversation that's a bit deeper than just superficial."
Beyond Hansen's reflection on the interaction, the conversation may well have helped shape Robertson's understanding of communication between players and coaches, as Razor has often noted he aims to coach how he would have liked to be coached during his playing days.
While Hansen backed up Ian Foster's adverse reaction to Robertson's early appointment ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France, he has since joined the chorus of endorsements for the serial Super Rugby champion.
Also expressing his anticipation for the next era of All Blacks rugby is Wallabies icon Stirling Mortlock, who this week called Robertson's appointment "scary".
“Yeah that’s… that’s not very nice,” a grinning Mortlock told 1News.
“Razor, I played against him, he was a legend of a player and a great guy and you can just see any team he coaches he gets it. All his people love him.
“You can tell he’s a great man manager. I think it’s pretty scary that he’s going to be the coach now, because there’s a lot to like about how he goes about his business and what outcomes and outputs he gets.”
“I’ll be an interested bystander but I’m assuming its going be great outcomes for the All Blacks for the next period of time.”
Latest Comments
> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
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