Steve Hansen: Australia deserved it

Coach Steve Hansen said his world champion All Blacks would bounce back from their off-night after losing the Rugby Championship decider to the Wallabies 27-19 in Sydney on Saturday.

The Wallabies showed plenty of resolve as they continued their improvement under new coach Michael Cheika in their third win in the southern hemisphere tournament ahead of next month’s World Cup. Hansen conceded the Wallabies were the better side as they lost to their trans-Tasman rivals for the first time since the Tri-Nations decider in Brisbane in 2011.

“We just got beaten by a better side on the night. We have to face up to that reality,” Hansen said.

“It’s an inconvenient fact. But we’ve been here before, we’ve lost games before and doesn’t mean to say we’ve become a bad side.”

Captain Richie McCaw played his 141st international to equal the world record held by Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll.

Meanwhile Jean de Villiers faces a race to be fit for the World Cup after fracturing his jaw in South Africa’s shock defeat to Argentina on Saturday night.

The former Munster star had just completed a nine-month rehab from a serious knee injury which had required six bouts of surgery and a gruelling rehab programme.