British and Irish Lions 2017: Steve Hansen hits back at 'desperate' Warren Gatland as tour starts to turn ugly

The British and Irish Lions tour turned sour on Monday when Steve Hansen angrily reacted to accusations from Warren Gatland that the All Blacks tried to deliberately injure Conor Murray during the first Test, with the New Zealand head coach claiming his rival has grown “desperate”

Lions coach Gatland faces a pivotal week in which his side must beat New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday in order to keep their hopes of a Test series victory alive. After naming his squad that will face the Hurricanes on Tuesday in the Lions’ final mid-week game, Gatland turned his attentions to what he perceived to be attempts to take scrum-half Murray’s standing leg out as he kicked the ball, risking a potential career-ending injury, according to the Lions head coach.

Footage from the first Test at Eden Park shows the All Blacks flanker Jerome Kaino make contact with Murray’s standing leg in the 10th minute last weekend, while the lock Brodie Retallick was twice seen to push Murray over after kicking the ball away in the fifth minute and just before half-time.

All Blacks head coach Hansen has not reacted well to the accusations though, and he phoned into New Zealand’s Radio Sport to respond to what he described were “disappointing” comments, before adding that Gatland should know better as a fellow Kiwi.

“It's predictable comments from Gatland, isn't it?” Hansen said. “Two weeks ago we cheated in the scrums and last week it was blocking and now he's saying this. It's really, really disappointing to hear it because what he's implying is we're intentionally going out to injure somebody.

"That's not the case. We've never been like that and as a New Zealander I'd expect him to know the New Zealand psyche that it's not about intentionally trying to hurt anybody, it's about playing hard and fair."

Hansen went on to admit that the Lions had earned respect with their performance in the first Test, and that Gatland’s comments had tainted their display.

“If you look at the Test match, what a great match,” he added. “Both teams earned the respect of each other, a physical contest that at the time no one was complaining about anything off-key, and the fans that watched it loved it, so it’s just really disappointing to hear him say that and take away the gloss off not only the Test match but his own team’s performance as well.

“I guess he might be a bit desperate or something, but I’m not sure.

Steve Hansen

"He's implying that we're trying to hurt the guy. Rugby is about playing within the laws and in this case we're trying to charge the kick down, and/or tackle him. Both those things are legal. That's what the game is built around. Just because he [Murray] one of their key players it doesn't mean to say that he has the right to go around the park without being charged down or tackled.

"It's just disappointing after such a great Test match, two days later or whatever, he's come out and saying something like that."

Both Gatland and Hansen have the chance to meet with the referee for the second Test, Frenchman Jerome Garces, on Friday ahead of the second Test at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, but Hansen does not expect these accusations to be brought up.

“I wouldn’t expect it to be a topic of conversation with officials because it wasn’t in the game,” Hansen added. “There’s a guy who’s watching for foul play all the time. If he thought it, he would have indicated that to the referee. It wasn't and it never was, and never will be as long as I'm involved with the All Blacks.

"We want to play hard and fair and want teams to do the same to us. Then we will see who has the best skill sets and takes the opportunities in 80 minutes. Then it's start again."