Rome — New Zealand coach Steve Hansen admits his current crop might struggle to emulate Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, but was given plenty of hope by a 68-10 rout of Italy a week before a crunch date with Ireland. The All Blacks’ first loss to Ireland in 111 years in Chicago 10 days ago caused ripples in the rugby world, but it did not stop Hansen from making 12 changes for their Test with Italy to give his "dirt-trackers" a chance. By the end of a one-sided thrashing that fully exposed the future workload of new Azzurri coach Conor O’Shea, Hansen was left with a potential selection headache for their return match with the Irish in Dublin on Saturday. "It bodes well for next week, we’ve got a lot of guys in form for selection," said Hansen. Malakai Fekitoa, on his 22nd cap, bagged the first of his brace of tries as early as the fourth minute, with man-of-the-match Aaron Cruden, on his first start since facing England in 2014, making the first of seven conversions to leave O’Shea’s ho...
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