Tokyo — New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has called for a four-month offseason to avoid player burnout. The All Blacks thumped Australia 37-20 in Yokohama on Saturday to complete a 3-0 Bledisloe Cup whitewash, but Hansen warned that players will continue to risk injury unless they get enough rest. “They don’t get enough of a break,” he said on Sunday. “You can’t keep going round and round and round without running out of petrol — at some stage you’ve got to recharge the tank.” New Zealand face 2019 World Cup hosts Japan in Tokyo next weekend before completing their five-match tour against England, Ireland and Italy. But Hansen insisted he did not have the luxury of talking about their heavyweight clashes with England on November 11 and Ireland a week later with so many of his players running on empty. “I don’t want to be awkward but we’ve chosen to take it really one game at a time and not get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “But you can rest assured we’ve got a lot of respect for Engla...
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