Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has joked he tried to give former All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen an Australian jersey during his recent visit to the team’s camp as preparations ramp up for the World Cup.
With his last, rather colourful, press conference back in Australia seemingly long forgotten, a much-chipper Jones shed some more light on Hansen’s presence at the Wallabies after it stunned the rugby world last week.
“[I] wanted to give Steve a Wallabies T-shirt but he didn’t take it,” Jones said.
“But he’s left us with a lot – he was fantastic for the week, a good rugby man and the players enjoyed having him around.”
And despite his previous teasing of New Zealand rugby fans, he eased their concerns today with confirmation of one topic that stayed off the table.
“I don’t think there was once we spoke about the All Blacks.”
Instead, Hansen popped up in different places around the Wallabies camp and even held one-on-ones with some players.
One of those getting some alone time with the former World Cup winner was new captain Will Skelton who said the fresh insight was immeasurable.
“Sometimes hearing the same stuff Eddie’s saying but from a different voice, different accent, it’s different and you take it with a bit more, not affection but it sits a little bit more,” he said.
How much they took on board will show soon enough, with the Aussies in the same pool as recent giant killers Georgia and Fiji this year and facing them in their first two matches of the tournament.
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