Former England rugby coach Stuart Lancaster has shed some light on the support he received after his side's shock pool-play elimination from the 2015 Rugby World Cup with All Blacks coach Steve Hansen playing a key role.
Lancaster told The Times about the "vilification" he went through after the host nation bowed out of the 2015 tournament in the group stages, with Australia and Wales advancing from their group instead.
"The family knew how much this meant to me, how much it meant to the country.
"I just wanted to protect them from it, but I felt powerless. I knew they would be wounded by what was coming. I said to Nina, 'Please just look after the kids'."
But Lancaster said people rallied around him in his darkest hour, including Hansen and then-Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer.
"The week we were eliminated from the World Cup, I had a note from Heyneke Meyer, the South Africa coach who had been involved in the defeat to Japan [in the same competition]," Lancaster said.
"He was going through exactly the same thing. 'I hope you are OK,' he asked. It was an incredibly thoughtful gesture.
"I had a good relationship with all the international coaches, because we all know the precipice we sit on.
"Moments after New Zealand won the World Cup final I sent a text to Steve Hansen to congratulate him.
"Forty minutes after the final whistle, when he must have been inundated, he replied. 'Thanks Stuart,' he said. 'Hope the family are OK. I am thinking of you.' That camaraderie is somehow deeper and more important than the rivalry.
"That is what rugby is about."
Lancaster coached England for four years from December 2011 until after the 2015 World Cup, earning a 61 per cent win record with 28 wins in 46 Tests.
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