OPINION

Soapbox

The Voice From the Stands

Monday 04th August 2008

Master plan: Henry can't win with the New Zealand public

A week on and the storm clouds seem to have dispersed, leaving New Zealand bathed in glorious sunshine, a stark contrast to last week's doom and gloom that descended on a fickle nation.

New Zealand answered their critics, and what's more they did it in such an emphatic style that it left nobody in doubt as to just how good they are. Although, at the same time, the performance left most of those people wondering why it took two defeats to produce such a display.

Only a week ago the pressure on Graham Henry was immeasurable, and despite such a turnaround - 44 points to be exact - he seems to receive little praise for his efforts. All of this makes me wonder, what does Henry have to do - winning a World Cup aside - to keep the New Zealand public happy.

Lose and it's all his fault, win and it is entirely down to the players. Sorry If I have missed something but there doesn't appear to be any logic behind such thinking. The only, half-feasible, excuse I can muster for such hatred is Henry's failure to win the World Cup - a fact only New Zealanders could dwell on almost a year later.

Surely Henry deserves some of the plaudits for Saturday's turnaround, and not just Richie McCaw and Dan Carter. It is all too easy to round on a coach when the side is under pressure, so why do those in New Zealand opt to ignore him after such a great win?

If anything it actually shows a large degree of ignorance from those in New Zealand, for if they can not see, and acknowledge, what Henry has done then they are more foolish than I first thought. Yes it is the players who execute the gameplan, but it is Henry and his assistants who do the fine-tuning to ensure the ship runs smoothly.

So much for winning as a team and losing as a team. In New Zealand's case it seems to be losing as Graham Henry and winning as the All Blacks - but only those who actually played in the game.

Sticking with Graham Henry and it was refreshing to see him praise the match referee, Mark Lawrence, for his efforts on Saturday. Is this the same man who blasted officials when New Zealand crashed out of the Rugby World Cup?

In keeping with those traits demonstrated by his detractors it would appear Henry has one rule for winning and one for losing. Better rather to focus on your own game than look to match officials as a contributing factor behind victories and defeats.

Finally, and sticking with the New Zealand theme, the Air New Zealand Cup got under way this weekend, not that you would have known with all the hype surrounding the All Blacks. Upsets are part and parcel of rugby, after all every dog has it's day, so lets hope we have not had our quota inside the first weekend of action.

Of the so-called 'big four' - Auckland, Waikato, Canterbury and Wellington - only one of them managed to win games they were all predicted to win. Waikato, the first to fall, went down to Northland for the first time in ten years, Auckland slumped to lowly Counties Manukau and the biggest upset of the weekend saw Manawatu claim their first victory over Canterbury for some 26 years.

It seems that the big boys of domestic rugby in New Zealand have been hit hard by the exodus of their stars to greener pastures. At least now we may see a tournament that is not full of foregone conclusions and endless games that resemble cricket scores.

Any problems with the state of rugby this week?

By Marcus Leach