Henry labels All Blacks win 'scintillating'

BY DUNCAN JOHNSTONE

Graham Henry made it clear he wouldn't want to be in Robbie Deans' shoes after the All Blacks thumped the Wallabies in the Bledisloe Cup opener last night.

New Zealand beat Australia 49-28 at Etihad Stadium, making it eight consecutive wins over the Wallabies with a victory that also put the All Blacks in firm control of the Tri-Nations.

Asked how he would handle eight losses, Henry said: "I'd be pretty sad. I'd find that very difficult to handle."

Asked if an All Blacks coach would be under heat in a similar situation, Henry replied: "That's an obvious question with an obvious answer."

Henry described the All Blacks' demolition job as "scintillating" but warned there was better to come.

"That was very pleasing. To score seven tries against Australia in Australia is a great achievement. There was some scintillating rugby there and I'm sure the people who watched the game will be pleased with that as a spectacle. We are pleased to be part of that."

Henry felt Australia contributed to that, bizarrely playing better when they were reduced to 14 men after wing Drew Mitchell was sent off for a second yellow card early in the second spell.

With few set pieces Henry noted that the game was being dominated by the contest at the breakdown. And it was his All Blacks who ruled there with skipper Richie McCaw supreme.

McCaw said referee Craig Joubert had been consistent and that was the crucial thing. He had been hard on the tackler but it was up to the teams to adjust to that.

It was an area New Zealand would look even harder at this week as they prepare for the rematch with the Wallabies in Christchurch.

New Zealand have clearly taken the game to a new level under the new law interpretations.

The worry is that they may be doing too much too soon with the World Cup looming next year.

"Do you think we have we peaked too early?" Henry chipped when it was suggested other teams would be watching and learning.

"Sides will get better as time goes on with the new interpretations of the law - that's only logical. We haven't got any feeling that we are ahead by a lot. We have got to keep on improving and I think we can improve and stay ahead ... if we are ahead."

Henry felt the team's effort last night wasn't as good all round as the opening Tri-Nations win over South Africa at Eden Park.

"We were more clinical there," he said.

But he felt it was a different game with Australia offering different challenges. He expected the Wallabies to improve heading into Christchurch.

Neither Henry or Deans were aware of any incident that appeared to show a Wallaby player's fingers in the eyes of All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina as he was being tackled by another Australian.

When questioned later Muliaina played down the matter saying the game had been "physical".

"The game was fairly fast and physical ... there were a lot of bodies being thrown around. There was nothing that I can remember," Muliaina said.

Meanwhile in-form All Black wing Cory Jane said the improved second half from the Australians, when they ran in two tries while a man down, left the New Zealanders with plenty to think about.

"The Aussies played a bit better one man down in the second half. They came out and put us under pressure and scored a few tries. That's a worrying sign but we're happy to score 49 points."

Janes agreed that the pace of the game had been a level up on the earlier tests against the Boks.

"We knew they were going to run it, and we wanted to run it as well. We had to worry about round the rucks as well, and that's where they put a lot of pressure on."

Jane, who scored a brilliant individual try late in the first half, said it was "unusual" having his opposite number (Mitchell) missing for so much of the test.

"I had no mate and he kept being naughty," cracked the All Black wing. "Every time we looked up you thought there was space there but Australia defended it pretty well. When we used width a couple of times they got caught but with one man down the whole second half they did pretty well to put us under pressure."

- with Marc Hinton

- © Fairfax NZ News