Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen became Sir Stephen on Tuesday, receiving a knighthood in the New Zealand New Year's honours list to acknowledge his outstanding contribution to rugby. The outgoing New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, another of the country's top honours.
Although Hansen fell short in his bid to guide the All Blacks to a third consecutive World Cup this year, losing to England in the semi-finals, the award citation noted his outstanding tenure.
The straight-talking coach with a wry sense of humour spent eight years as an assistant under Graham Henry, who was also knighted after winning the 2011 World Cup, and then eight years in charge.
During his time at the helm, the All Blacks won the 2015 World Cup, finished third in 2019, were World Rugby's team of the year five times, won the Rugby Championship six times and retained the Bledisloe Cup, played annually against Australia, in all eight years.
Hansen, who grew up wanting to be a jockey and started his working life as a policeman, said coaching was something he never thought he would be good at but he wanted to give something back to the sport he had played.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019
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