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Hansen steering Welsh recovery Posted: Saturday February 15, 2003 7:50 AM
Rugby World's Katie Field meets the coach who is keeping a firm hand on the tiller in transitional times. WALES' mid-term report for the 2002-03 season should read 'Shows potential, but must continue to work hard'. In the year since Steve Hansen took charge of the team, they have moved onward and upward from the nadir of last winter's 54-10 defeat in Dublin, but there is some way to go before they can bracket themselves with the best. "We are in the second tier of nations, who might beat the top teams on an off-day," says Hansen. "At some stage people might have thought we were in the third tier, but we have progressed and are comfortable in the second." This time last year, Hansen was the assistant to Wales coach Graham Henry. In early February, after the defeat in Dublin, he took the helm and set about rebuilding a team which had lost its confidence and, subsequently, its experienced decision-making spine due to retirements. "I certainly expected it to be a challenge, and it hasn't fallen short in that department," the burly New Zealander says. "It's no secret that work needs to be done on the structure of the game in Wales, to help us create a competitive team. We know there is great public expectation on us, as a team. We need to be mentally tough and stay focused. It's our own expectations that we want to meet." With Scott Quinnell, Rob Howley, Scott Gibbs and David Young among the senior players who are no longer at Hansen's disposal as this RBS Six Nations Championship starts, he has sought a new generation of leaders, and is pleased with the progress made during autumn Tests against Romania, Fiji, Canada and New Zealand. "Colin Charvis has certainly grown with the responsibility of being captain," says Hansen. "He is now seeing the bigger picture and is leading rather than following, and being a positive influence. Stephen Jones is stepping up to the plate and taking a bigger role. Dwayne Peel is getting the opportunity to play a sequence of games and is starting to become a more dominant figure. Ideally I want 22 leaders in my squad." Hansen has made his mark on the composition of the squad, and the way the players work. New caps like Michael Owen, Dafydd Jones, Robert Sidoli, Vernon Cooper, Sonny Parker, Gethin Jenkins and Mefin Davies have been blooded, and the coach is promoting a spirit of togetherness by keeping the squad in camp for longer -- which caused some controversy during the autumn. "We lost Stephen Jones last year due to a back injury, which we believe was caused by him driving for one and a half hours each day," says Hansen. "This time, the guys who lived within 20 minutes of the hotel could go home when they had free time, but we felt it was only fair that everyone stayed in the hotel at night, because we had to come together as a team. Wednesday was the boys' day off, so all their families came here and we all had a meal together in the evening. That was very successful. "Spending time together brings you closer. What we did in the past hasn't worked, so we had to do something different." Hansen is a big fan of the new seven-week structure of the tournament and will not release his players to their clubs for the two blank weeks. "It is up to us to utilise that time in the best way we can, by working together or having a break. That is going to be one of the arts of this Six Nations. We need to gain more self-belief by preparing better. We have to have self-discipline and desire, then you can achieve what you want to. We have made huge progress from the last Six Nations and if our best performance is good enough to win games, that will be great. If not, we have to work harder."
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