Hansen to make announcement on All Blacks future

Steve Hansen's All Blacks contract expires after the World Cup and he will announce his future in the coming weeks.

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen will make an announcement on his future before the end of 2018.

Hansen's position has been the subject of much speculation in recent times and that was only heightened by a second defeat to Ireland in three matches with Joe Schmidt's side, who claimed a 16-9 success in Dublin just over two years on from their famous 40-29 triumph in Chicago.

Schmidt has been viewed as a potential successor to Hansen, who has led the All Blacks since 2012 and whose contract expires at the end of next year's World Cup.

And Hansen appears to have made up his mind on whether he will stay on beyond that tournament in Japan, telling a media conference: "I decided before I left [New Zealand] I was going to make one [an announcement]. And I will do that when I get home at some stage, before Christmas."

New Zealand round off their 2018 against Italy, with Hansen expecting his players to learn lessons from the Ireland reverse.

"If you want a positive out of the negative, then people being uncomfortable is certainly better than being too comfortable," he added.

"You tend to find people work a little harder and definitely look in the mirror a lot better. All of us will be doing a bit of that over the summer."