All Blacks to drop rotation policy during Rugby World Cup 2011: Steve Hansen
Steve Hansen, the assistant coach of the All Blacks, has informed the media on September 6 that they will ignore their traditional and rotational policy during the Rugby World Cup 2011 regarding players selection. The coach indicated that All Blacks will
try to stick with their first XV as much as possible throughout the global showpiece. The All Blacks have revised their policy to perform better during the quarter-final stages in the Webb Ellis Trophy.
The All Blacks tried an innovative trick during the Rugby World Cup of 2007 to enter with new players in the each game to keep them fresh for the whole tournament, which proved devastating for them. The were knocked out from the quarter-final by France as
most of their players lacked sufficient time in the field and in the end surrendered to the hosts.
Talking to the reporters about the All Blacks new approach for Rugby World Cup 2011, Hansen said that it’s a new journey and we will select the best players for the each game. He added that, “Clearly, we've got a group of players that are going to play a
lot of the games. I don't know that you will see the same 15 totally, we just can't do that we don't think. There is going to be an opportunity for some other people.”
The assistant coach further explained his stand and said that changes are quite inevitable in rugby as you can not discount on the the possibilities of injuries and opportunities will be given to other players. He supported his argument while saying that,
“We've got some form of idea of what we'd like to do but there's flexibility within that because we don't know what injuries we're going to get, we don't know what circumstances may arise that force us to change that. There's a basic plan but that's flexible.”
The All Blacks will take on the Tongan side to start of their Rugby World Cup campaign on September 9 in Eden Park, Auckland.
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