{"id":11207,"date":"2012-06-07T10:59:19","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T08:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/06\/rugby-some-rest-but-no-rotation-for-hansens-all-blacks\/"},"modified":"2012-06-07T10:59:19","modified_gmt":"2012-06-07T08:59:19","slug":"rugby-some-rest-but-no-rotation-for-hansens-all-blacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-some-rest-but-no-rotation-for-hansens-all-blacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Some rest but no rotation for Hansen’s All Blacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Greg Stutchbury<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

AUCKLAND, June 7<\/span> (Reuters) – Steve Hansen uttered the
\ndreaded ‘R-word’ on Thursday when he named his first All Blacks
\nside for the test against Ireland on Saturday, but quickly made
\nit clear he was not about to revive a policy of wholesale squad
\nrotation.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Rotation became something of a swear word in New Zealand in
\n2007 when Graham Henry chose to constantly rotate players in the
\nteam through the pool phases of the World Cup, leading to a lack
\nof cohesion in the quarter-final defeat to France.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

At the last World Cup, Henry stuck with a core of players
\nand changed the side only out of necessity, a strategy that was
\nvindicated when Richie McCaw lifted the Webb Ellis trophy last
\nOctober.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday when Hansen named his first All Blacks side as
\nhead coach, the former assistant to Henry said he had been
\nmindful of the toll a longer Super Rugby season was taking on
\nsome of his players.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside centre Sonny Bill Williams and blindside flanker
\nVictor Vito were both named to start against Ireland, with
\nHansen saying the decisions had been partially made to give
\nregular starter Ma’a Nonu and the versatile Adam Thomson a rest.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s just a chance for us to give him a breather,” Hansen
\nsaid when asked if Nonu had been dropped. “He’s gone straight
\nfrom the World Cup to Japan and has worked all the way through
\nthe Japanese season then came home.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“He was hoping to get a bit of a breather with the
\n(Auckland) Blues but they’re having the season they’re having so
\nhe has had to jump straight back in there.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We’ve also got a guy in the squad who’s in outstanding form
\n(Williams) and that allows us to say ‘let’s get you freshened up
\nand get you ready for the next series’.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Greg Stutchbury AUCKLAND, June 7 (Reuters) – Steve Hansen uttered the dreaded ‘R-word’ on Thursday when he named his first All Blacks side for the test against Ireland on Saturday, but quickly made it clear he was not about to revive a policy of wholesale squad rotation. Rotation became something of a swear word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-11207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}