Hansen irritated by stoppages

Editor

Steve Hansen admitted his frustration at the stop-start nature of New Zealand's win over Namibia at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday.

The All Blacks made it two from two with a comfortable 58-14 win over the tournament's lowest-ranked team, but struggled for rhythm in the second-half with a number of stoppages holding up the game.

Hansen was frustrated as his side failed to really fire in the second-half, but admitted the stoppages were understandable, with eight part-time players in the Namibian squad, and fatigue and injuries inevitable.

And the New Zealand coach was quick to praise the Namibians for their efforts, revealing that the teams were planning to get together after the game for a couple of quiet drinks.

"(It was) frustrating. But we've got a good 80-minute hit into us," said Hansen.

"Twenty-nine of the 30 players have played now, we've no injuries, and scored nine tries. We got through that and it's a good learning curve going forward. We're happy for Namibia. They will be happy with their night's work.

"We've got to deal with (the stoppages) better than we did tonight. It is difficult every time you have a scrum. At one stage we had four minutes on one scrum and that's not what the game wants.

"That's what can happen when you get the opposition struggling to stay up or we are. They are working hard on trying to get that (TMO) right.

"If someone scores a try they need to do their due diligence but you would like them to speed things up if they can. The goodwill goes out the door a bit. You get a bit frustrated. The fans that is.

"When they got tired towards the end of the game it got quite messy but that's what you expect when you have eight guys who are amateur players.

"Early doors I thought they committed themselves totally to the breakdown and the tackle and competed well in the lineout. To achieve what they have done by making the World Cup, half your team being amateurs and getting to an event like this is something special in itself.

"They were worthy opponents. They gave everything they could give and that's all your can ask of a man in a rugby match."