Steve Hansen tries to lessen the load but All Blacks feel weight of history | Andy Bull

The winning ethos is fundamental to the rugby culture in New Zealand and the prospect of defeat is unthinkable – the players dare not let the country downThe last, and only, All Blacks captain to lose a series to the Lions, Colin “Pinetree” Meads, once said that each and every defeat his team suffered was “a national tragedy”. Meads explained that he and his players were not just verbally abused by the public, but, worse still, scorned by them.When the All Blacks lost to Australia at Wellington in 1964, Meads and his brother Stan had to catch an overnight train after the match so they could ge…