Hansen defends scrum

Wales coach Steve Hansen has defended his scrum after criticism following the RBS 6 Nations Championship defeat in Ireland.

Much has been made of the New Zealander’s recent tactic of substituting tighthead prop Adam Jones for Gethin Jenkins well before half-time.

But Hansen has defended his approach to the front row as he prepares for the clash against France on Sunday week.

The bottom line is that the near-20 stone Jones has a fitness problem, while Hansen is a big fan of Jenkins.

“If people don’t understand something, they tend to talk about it,” he said.

“I think people have over-reacted. Most of those who have spoken about it have been uninformed and made uninformed comments.

“No one was moaning about it after the New Zealand and England games in the World Cup or after we beat Scotland.

“You’ve just got to take it with a pinch of salt and move on.

“The bottom line is we haven’t got a lot of tightheads that do the job scrummage-wise.

“Adam is doing a great job for us in that respect. If you then pair him up with Gethin, who has all the other things, then you look at them as a package.

“We are trying to get Gethin scrummaging better and improve Adam’s fitness.

“It’s a long-term process, not a short-term one. You can’t just snap your fingers and have it happen.

“Adam knows he’s got to work on his fitness and he’s doing just that. He is working extremely hard. He can’t do any more than he is. He is doing everything that is asked of him.

“So I don’t think he should be too worried about it.

“He will make his big gains in the summer training camp.”

After the Welsh pack’s hardness was questioned following the 36-15 defeat at Lansdowne Road, Hansen was asked ‘What is hardness?’

“It’s just having the determination not to be beaten,” replied the Kiwi.

“It comes from success and having the attitude that you’ll do whatever it takes to win.

“That attitude comes from winning regularly and when you look back over the last 18 months we haven’t done that.

“But in another 12 months that will have improved, because there is plenty of talent in the team.

“I haven’t lost any confidence or belief in the forwards after what happened in Dublin.

“I understand it for what it is. It is just part of the process of the team growing. Gaining hardness is part of that growing up process.

“We’ve got a young pack that is only going to get better.

“Along the way, we are going to have days against the big boys where we are not as good as we would like to be.

“The boys are hurting quite badly from what was a poor performance against Ireland.

“Everyone is gutted. They are disappointed with themselves because they understand they let themselves down.

“I know we will go in there against France and be very competitive.”

For that match Wales will have Colin Charvis back after the captain missed the trip to Dublin with a dislocated index finger.

And Hansen admits Wales missed the Tarbes flanker.

“A few people had suggested that Colin shouldn’t be in the team before the Championship.

“They can now see how much we missed him on Sunday.”