Hansen declares Ireland favourites for 2019 Rugby World Cup

Steve Hansen has stuck to his guns and labelled Ireland as the world's best team – and favourites for next year's World Cup – in the wake of his All Blacks side's loss to the Six Nations champions in Dublin on tonight.

The Kiwi head coach had upped the ante for this game between the world's top-two ranked sides when the tourists arrived in Dublin last Sunday when insisting that this eagerly-awaited test would determine who finished the year as the globe's greatest.