All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is holding nothing back ahead of Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup opener, suggesting the Wallabies’ selection of Kurtley Beale is an attempt to keep him away from a code switch.
Hansen says he was “dumbfounded” by Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie’s decision to take the Waratahs player over Bernard Foley at five-eighth after only playing off the bench in a series sweep of France in June.
“I was dumbfounded by it a wee bit initially, the selection,” Hansen said Thursday.
“I thought ‘why would he do that’ and I came to the conclusion that maybe Ewen (McKenzie) doesn’t trust him (Foley) to do be able to do what he wants against us.
“Or if you really think about it, the other guy (Beale) is under contract and league are chasing him so you might start to think maybe the ARU (Australian Rugby Union) has told him he’s got to pick him,” he suggested before taking a stab at the 25-year-old’s goal kicking ability.
“At the end of the day it doesn’t matter why he has. Both of them are very good rugby players and Kurtley is certainly a guy who loves to do things differently.
“He will throw a lot of inside balls to runners so we’re going to have to make sure we look after that part of the park, particularly from second and third phase play when guys are struggling to get into position”.
“He’ll be dangerous. He’s not as good a goalkicker as Foley but I guess he’ll bring Foley on late in the game and if they need a goalkicker they’ve got the right one on at the right end of the game.”
The All Blacks confirmed Ben Smith as their choice at full-back on Thursday ahead of Israel Dagg.
Hansen has returned the same team that swept England 3-0 in June with Dagg not even making the match-day squad to face Australia at ANZ Stadium.
Photo: Matt King/Getty Images
