Sunday News | Sunday, 14 October 2007
Graham Henry has been instructed by the NZRU not to resign as All Blacks coach as they attempt to buy time to save their preordained plans for the home assault on the World Cup in 2011.
It's an open secret the NZRU planned to give the head coaching job to Steve Hansen, after the World Cup.
But those plans had been drawn up with a World Cup win in France in mind.
After last week's dismal loss to France in Cardiff, the NZRU's top brass chairman Jock Hobbs and CEO Chris Moller asked Henry not to resign.
It was in those discussions where it became apparent Henry was determined to stay in the job and right the wrongs of France in New Zealand in four years.
I understand Henry is still a favourite with "the suits" because of his pre-World Cup record and favourable work with sponsors.
But reappointing Henry would have consequences for All Blacks rugby.
It would see Robbie Deans, offered the Wallabies coaching job and if he took it on, the NZRU would have no one to blame but themselves.
Retaining Henry would be hard to sell to the New Zealand public.
On one hand they would have to convince the rugby nation to reinvest in Henry's failed policies while at the same time having to justify not selecting Deans.
It would verge on the criminal to snub Deans.
Unbelievably, NZRU staffers have been quoting website polls that have Henry leading Deans in the "preferred coach" category.
But two days after John Mitchell's side crashed out of the 2003 World Cup, TVNZ's Holmes Show ran a poll asking if Mitchell should be sacked. A resounding 82 percent said he should remain in the job.
There is a natural sympathy for the All Blacks from fans when they suffer disappointment.
And the NZRU is banking on that vibe to continue through to the release of an independent inquiry to be set up into what when wrong at the World Cup.
But the rugby nation already knows what went wrong. Henry had intervention on a mass scale his rotation and conditioning policies making sure of that but delivered the worst World Cup finish in history.
The inquiry is simply a delaying tactic nothing more, nothing less.
It's widely knows that CEO-in-waiting Steve "Teflon" Tew has a strained relationship with Deans. The pair worked together at the Crusaders and Deans' would challenge him regularly.
But who is given the All Blacks reins needs to be a rugby decision and not a political one. Deans is without a doubt the best man to be charged with winning the World Cup in 2011.
His coaching record speaks for itself four Super rugby titles. But it's intangibles like loyalty that should see him win the board's backing.
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