Hansen makes poorly disguised attack on Gatland for '˜bullying' over blocking issue

British and Irish Lions Peter O'Mahony during the training session at the QBE Stadium. Picture: David Davies/PA

New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen has appeared to accuse British and Irish Lions counterpart Warren Gatland of attempting to 'bully' referee Jaco Peyper ahead of tomorrow's first Test in Auckland.

Gatland revealed last weekend that the Lions had already raised the issue of off-the-ball “blocking” with officials, and said he planned to speak to Test referee Peyper to discuss further the tourists’ concerns ahead of the Eden Park opener.

Hansen yesterday indicated he felt Gatland had been wrong to “apply pressure” on the official by talking about such matters openly.

“The referee’s got the hardest job in the world, I reckon,” the All Blacks boss said.

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland with Jamie George during Thursday's training session at the QBE Stadium. Picture: David Davies/PA.

“With the blocking, the rule says that as long as you don’t change your direction of running, you are entitled to run back to help your team-mate, and that’s the key, isn’t it?

“Turn around and run back, and don’t change your line. If your line is the same, then you are not blocking, what you are doing is just running back to help your team-mate.

“But if you run five metres to get in front of someone, that’s dopey, that’s dumb.

“We just want the ref to referee the rules the way they said they were going to, and be consistent about it. Will there be mistakes? Yes, there will be because they are humans, just like both teams will make mistakes themselves.

NEXT QUESTION? British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland and Peter O'Mahony face the media at the QBE Stadium, in Auckland. Picture: David Davies/PA

“There is no point trying to bully the referees publicly in the media. We have a moment to meet them (today) and we will talk about things we need to talk about in private, and he will give his interpretation of what he wants, and then it is up to us to go and deliver that.”

Hansen dismissed Gatland’s suggestion that he might be “a little bit worried” heading into the three-match series.

“You guys that know me know I will tell you all the time that worry is a wasted emotion,” he said. “It’s a wasted emotion because if the thing you are worrying about happened, you need to fix it. So there is no point worrying about it.”