Henry rising to his new All Blacks challenge

All Blacks coaches swap roles

Related Links

Rokocoko fightback begins now Mortlock to miss All Blacks test in Japan All Blacks set up 'skeleton' for northern tour McCaw likes sound of the new All Blacks tune

Relevant offers

All Blacks

Former All Blacks captain Tom Willis retires All Blacks to play at La Plata against Argentina Ian Foster reveals why ABs news was a secret Steve Hansen recruits old mate McLean on merit Fox 'on the outside looking in' for All Blacks Ian Foster named All Blacks assistant coach Hansen has much to prove as All Blacks coach Aussie McLean to be added to ABs coaching team Headgear won't protect players from concussion 'Sir Ted' still courted for help with All Blacks

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.

That certainly seemed the case at the All Blacks' first pre-tour training session in Auckland yesterday as the new forwards coach wheeled out some cutting-edge technology on his first day back on the job.

It was almost an incongruous sight – an old stager like 60-something All Blacks coach Graham Henry, who's been doing this for longer than anyone cares to remember, using a space age-style piece of equipment like the new lineout platforms that were broken out for the first time this season.

Let's call it Old School meets New Technology. Certainly Henry was happy enough with his first day on the job as forwards coach of these All Blacks following the much-talked-about, and unprecedented, shakeup of responsibilities.

Just to review: Henry now oversees the big boys, Wayne Smith is the administer of defence and Steve Hansen charts the attacking game. Previously, for the best part of six years, Henry had been the defence guru, Hansen the pack man and Smith the attack genius.

But after a shaky year that's seen four tests lost, as well as the Tri-Nations crown, something had to give. This is the coaches' solution.

Henry, for his part, was rapt with the change, which he reckoned is as stimulating for him as his players. And that even stretched as far as the new-fangled equipment that saw rangy locks perched precariously on platforms that held them at a point equivalent to the peak of their jumps.

"We got it made," said Henry proudly. By a guy named Chris Deighon from a Kiwi company called Powa Products who have also designed Mike Cron's specialist scrum equipment.

Henry likes Deighton – "he's older than me, which is bloody good," he says with a grin – but more importantly likes his design which can be broken down into a portable carry-pack. The All Blacks will take two with them on the tour.

"The Crusaders have got boxes, but they're in one place," said Henry. "We had to get something that was portable. We've got two of them. I was going to ask for three but I didn't want to upset the baggage man."

The message from the Crusaders, particularly hooker Corey Flynn, was that they're invaluable tools for the throwers. They enable them to aim at a fixed target that simply can't be simulated on a continued basis at training.

"The benefit is that you're not having lifters there all the time, because they get stuffed, and you can only do a certain amount effectively at training," said Henry. "So they can do it twice a week and just work on repetition."

Henry, being the schoolteacher that he was, has also worked out that some competition is healthy. So throwers are given scores for each attempt based on accuracy, everything is logged and at the end you have a winner who is treated something delectable by the other two. Based on yesterday's efforts, Andrew Hore looked in for a good week.

Henry, of course, has now assumed the poisoned chalice that is the lineouts from Hansen. We wondered if he's started lying awake at night yet worrying about the cursed set piece.

"I lie awake at nights worrying about the defence," he shot back. "It's stimulating to be frank, and I think Shag (Hansen) and Smithy have found the same. It puts you on an edge because you haven't done it before, so you have to think it through again.

"I'm also using the guys," added Henry of his many senior statesmen. "There a lot of guys with a lot of information. It's using that expertise by doing peer coaching."

It's been a while, though. By his own reckoning Henry last took the forwards (for everything but scrumming, which tends to be the preserve of the front-rowers' club) when he was Wales coach.

"I had a part-time forward coach who did the scrums and I did everything else," recalls Henry of a simpler era.

He remembers sitting down with (Sir) Clive Woodward at a dinner after the Welsh had just been put to the sword by the English. "They had six coaches and there was me and this part-time coach, and Woodward looked at me, just shook his head and said ‘you don't expect you two to beat us six do you?'"

Henry said times had changed a lot since then, particularly in the area of the lineouts which were "a hell of a lot more sophisticated now".

"There's a huge amount of expertise goes into the lineout, and a huge amount of analysis," he added. He then starting talking about the "explosiveness" of the jumper and the importance of the roles played by the supporters. Quicky study, it seems.

It's all new, and invigorating, he reckoned. He even told us that lineout jumpers had been broken down frame by frame and no one could rise as high in as short an amount of time as Springbok Victor Matfield. But then again we all know that.

It's now Henry's job to find a way to counter men like Matfield. To provide some stability to one of the most fragile areas of the All Black game. No pressure, Ted.

- © Fairfax NZ News