Hansen hits back at criticism of his rookie team
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All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has labelled the criticism of selecting a rookie team for Saturday night's Tokyo test against Japan as "nonsense".
Hansen named 8 debutants in his 23-man squad to face Japan this weekend.
Speaking at a press conference in the build-up to the game, Hansen hit back at those questioning the All Blacks selections for the match with this team being the least experienced All Blacks outfit since the fabled 1986 Baby Blacks side famously beat France 18-9 in Christchurch.
Hansen said making so many changes was out of necessity because of the number of games his players are involved in during a typically busy rugby schedule in a calendar year.
"We play so many test matches and so many Super [Rugby] games that it's a nonsense when you hear people saying they didn't give test caps away like this years ago," he said in Tokyo.
"Well, they only played four or five test matches and six or seven provincial games [in the past]. Today, we're playing 14 or 15 test matches alone [in one year] and you just can't ask the same people to do it all the time and play to the level we're asking them to play at."
The All Black coach was accused of handing out "confetti caps" by sections of the British press but he went into some detail about how the All Blacks have experimented with squad rotation in recent years.
"Over the last few years, we've looked at ways of trying to skin the cat. Last year, we split the squad to Argentina and South Africa," Hansen said.
"This year, the opportunity to play the Bledisloe up here was too good to turn down because of the opportunity to experiment and get a feel for Japan."
Most of the team that beat Australia went to England on Thursday after a 19-man touring party had joined the squad in Japan for just the Tokyo test with the Brave Blossoms.
Hansen said adding those extra players, who largely have very little international experience, was nothing but a bonus for the All Blacks.
"The idea of having two weeks here was better than having one. We were asked to play Japan and then [the question] is: how is that going to affect us against England, Ireland and Italy?
"We chose to bring in some extra players. It cost us nothing because the game is extra. We're winning everywhere when you think about.
"We're giving some guys some really valuable experiences and we'll get to see whether they can cope.
"This is a young side and there's no disputing that but the expectation is they go out and play really well.
Story via: Stuff.co.za
