KEY POINTS:
Here is a selection of Your Views:
Crafty over in Oz
The ABs should be doing better than what they are at present and the reason is their error rate is letting them down. What's the point of having all these prima donnas if they continue to drop/knock the ball on. Has anyone else noticed the similarities between the Warriors and the All Blacks? They won't win the RWC.
Growler (Adelaide)
Happy with GH. Would like to have seen Mealamu start, he is a genuine ball carrier. He offers more than Oliver. Our scrum is awesome but with current referring we can't use it. Would be trying to get Conrad up to speed, he is our best centre. Think we will beat Oz by 15, our forwards will crush them, Gregan too slow out the back. Someone please tackle Mortlock though. RWC is still up for grabs, am concerned that we don't have the top two-inches like the Aussies. Again they showed by not kicking the ball to us we push our passes and panic, no plan b. We have the best athletic ability in the world but half the IQ. Should be a great game and great world cup. We cant win 'em all, but lets hope we win every game for the rest of the year! Go the Blacks.
MC
The whole country needs to stop this nonsense talk of ABs choking, being overly critical etc, and get in behind the team and support them. Hell, they won in SA when nobody thought anyone would, lost to the very average Wallies who lucked in through a couple of pathetic tackles and a ref whom one could say was duped by little Georgie Gregan - again. I don't think criticism is due for these guys, it's much harder than armchair Joe thinks to perform at that level consistently and in case anyone's forgotten, this is the most consistent team we've ever had. As a fan who tapes and rewatches every match, one or two things seem to typify big AB victories. These are:
(1) AB tackling is huge. Smacking guys over rather just dragging them down seems to instantly convert most attacking moves into defensive moves for the opposition. When the ABs start doing this right from the kick-off the opposition seems to just drift off their game plan and become increasingly aimless as the game goes on.
(2). When playing the game inside our own 22 get it out, don't try running it up or anything else clever, just get it downfield and chase like hell. The Crusaders perfected this tactic, even if the kick went straight down the middle.
(3). Run straight. Last weekend we spent half the match running across the field. When Leonard came on he ran straight and hard and the difference was obvious. If you want it wide quick then bullet pass it - like Leonard did, but don't try running it across, the defence can easily drift with the ball and pressure mistakes and make intercepts.
(4). Target key players with huge hits. The dingoes have little Georgie, Bernie Larkham and Mortlock. Somebody please smack these guys over and induce some fear and physical damage. If this is done early they'll never gain any momentum and all their game intelligence will evaporate.
Even if only point four is achieved we'll wallop the dingoes this weekend at Eden Park. And oh yeah, let's cut all this dumb criticism of our elite athletes and get in behind them and support them. Cheers.
MC
It's too late now but I really wonder why they didn't prepare Rico Gear for the centre spot?
David Taylor
Does Isaia Toeava have some compromising photos of Graham Henry the rest of us don't know about?
Cauliflower
The best centre in NZ is at fullback. The best fullback is at first five. The best lock/6 cover is awol [Gibbes].
Graeme B
The only thing Graham Henry has to worry about as far as the RWC is concerned is that the Wallabies, more than any other team in the world, know how to beat the All Blacks. They may not win every time but in all the vital matches against NZ in the RWC since it started the Aussies have won.
Realist (Auckland)
Let's face it Graham Henry is no Jon Mitchell. His success with Wales and now the ABs is more due to his abundance of extremely talented rugby players than his thinking tactical edge or game plan strategies. Has everyone forgotten his pathetic "flat line" that put paid to possibly the best running backline the world had ever seen. (Nurtured by Mitchell) The ABs have never been the same since. The degradation continues. Just as his tenure with Wales ended with a "Pphhhft", so will his time with the ABs. We are yet to pay for the knee jerk panic axing of John Mitchell. I reckon the price will be the loss of the web Ellis in France 2007.
Rotovator
Oz can play a shock physical game - remember how Smith took Marshall out and disrupted an AB backline already recovering from the Umaga accident? SA has a massive, aggressive pack that can disrupt the ABs. Remember Matfield concussing Kelleher in the opening minutes of that SA test? France are playing at home and will be ferocious, possibly brilliant (remember '99 against a soft AB pack and a rearranged backline?). And the finals could run to extra time (God, remember SA '95, illness, and 2 teams out on their feet?). All the top teams can and will play with ferocity, brilliance, passion. Over the course of the WC the AB's test 22 will certainly suffer attrition through bad luck, opposition tactics and training accidents. The percentages tell us to reduce disruption to patterns through rotation, reduce accidents through conditioning. Then it's all about the 80 (or 100) minute zone where fitness, desire and guts bolster an AB wall, where AB forwards intimidate with focused aggression, AB backs run the angles and hit the passes in space at pace, and we kick our goals, 3 weeks running. We're on the way!
Palisi
The rotation policy is a good idea to keep the players on their toes but I do believe Graham Henry needs to state his "A' team and his "reserves' team. When past All Black teams toured there was a mid-week team and the test team. This policy kept the best players intact and the rest played to get in to the test team.
An "A' team needs to picked because it raises the quality in player achievement. Having such a "A' team it brings combination and fluidity.
Just a comment on selection for this Saturday, the selectors need balance in the team. Aaron Mauger should be in the backline to steady the two most silkiest runners in World Rugby. Unfortunately Luke MacAlister misses out. If he was selected Conrad Smith should be at centre. I hope they do not fall into believing they have to select there best individual players to sacrifice a great balanced team. Please think of the winning All Black in 1987.
N
Note to Mr Henry and co: Please beg Tana to make an early excursion to France to plug the centre gap.
Nomad (China)
Whether the ABs win the cup or not ultimately does not come down to Henry (though he will take full responsibility), but the players and the circumstances. How will the players react for example if, Gregan tells the ref his team will leave the field unless the ABs engage the scrum properly, as Eales did in 99. They are smart and will use any means necessary to win.
This time, thanks to a shrewd and poker playing coaching team, the opposition are just guessing as to what we are up to. In 2003 Mitchell put all his cards on the table before the cup, allowing fast Eddie to outsmart us. The best thing about this using different players (I don't want to call it rotation as a poster above noted there are only three changes from the last game), is that the hawk-eye opposition have no idea about what we are up to. Any kiwi rugby fan should also have noted that in 2003, Oz were a stuttering team through the pool phase, luckily getting past the Irish. So where does that leave us in the realm of this weekends decider? I believe we will see a decisive effort by the men from NZ - running out convincing winners (if we don't I am out a couple of hundred to Aussie colleagues). However, I do have faith in this team, and even a loss will not stop me believing the ABs have the goods to win WC. The talk about Thorne is a bore. Flavell had his chance and every time he was in open space he kicked it away rather run at people. I think his time in Japan made him too polite and soft.
Spaniard
I find that this Saturday the All Blacks will prove that you are not right. New Zealand is a dominating power in today's rugby and you have just got to see the numbers of the last years to realise. It is true that they usually have had somewhat bad results in the World Cup, but not to Australia; to France as well. I respect Henry's work and I'm sure he's more than aware on what's it his squad needs to be world champs. They have got the best team and I believe Graham Henry has got the guts to make them champs.
PS: New Zealand is +84 - 38 against Australia all time. +85 this Sunday.
Scorz, Whangamata (via London, UK)
Can your journalists please provide some valid reasons for questioning Graham Henry's methods thus far? This has been one of the most successful and enjoyable periods of All Black domination in World Rugby for quite some time.
I for one am sick of the unfair criticism levelled at the present coaching team, and would prefer it if the broken record was changed. I hope Henry continues to ignore the members of the media who are calling for old methods to be reintroduced, I'm quite happy with how things are going. We're winning when it counts. Seems like tall poppy syndrome is clearly still rife, at least in the press. If the journalists have nothing better to do why not drive out to a countryside rugby club and give them some exposure? It'd be a far more enjoyable read than the same thing we've been subjected to recently. Get some different views, yours are old hat lads.
Stu K (Sydney)
Sorry fellas, but the ABs will not win the 2007 RWC. They will choke - again. Graham Henry will be sacked in November and you will be haunted by the words: "four more years boys".
Andrew
Does anyone here actually believe that we are playing properly? By that, I mean running our actual moves and playing like The ABs? I for one don't. Any team like the ABs doesn't go from such complete domination (like we were last year) to what we are now with out reason. They have no game plan, no fluency, and this is how Henry wants it. Everyone is talking about peaking, game time, rotation depth blah blah. Remember the write up's from every half knowing rugby commentator from around the world last year, claiming that we could take our "c" team and win the world cup. The same is still true. Surely anyone with half a brain can tell that some of the dropped balls and bad passes are 'forced' as in they are deliberately playing badly. To quote Hansan 'This performance (SA) was exactly like in France. Although in France everything stuck, last night it didn't' (or to that effect). At the WC we will put those away.
I'm not trying to down play the Aussies well deserved win, or our less then admirable performance vs SA but lets face it, Henry is a genius. The last three years we have been formidable - suddenly we ain't. Coincidence, I think not! We will hit our streak at the WC, just wait.
Scrumma (Perth)
He will do what he thinks is best for the team, with the support of the other selectors, in this era of professionalism is he's giving the new players more experience so when given the opportunity they will rise to the challenge rather than be overawed by the occasion of playing at test match level. If Sean Fitzpatrick and others were playing now under Henry's leadership they would have to go with what's best for the team.
Rob (Rotorua/Shropshire)
Reading thru some of the views, there seems to be mixed feelings towards Graham's policies. Some quite clearly give the ABs all there support and that is what we should be doing. Direct the bitching at the politicians. Graham has mapped his path to World Cup glory and short of some food poisoning I am positive the ABs will be defending the trophy come 2011. Time to get behind the team this weekend and let them know we are behind them! Cannot let those Aussie mongrels get the better of us.
See you in France!
AF
I agreed with the rotation policy at first but now it's morphed into this specialized opposition rotational player or what I like to call "SOpRot." So what's a SOpRot? Basically any player who rotates because they have specialized skills needed for an upcoming opponent. For instance, we play Anton Oliver when we want the scrum to dominant and Mealamu when we need a runner around the rucks. They're both hopeless when it comes to throwing into the lineout so then we bring on Hore. If we need brains in the backline then Mauger plays and if its line breaks we want then it's definitely McAlister at inside. Jerry Collins is in when we want to wreak destruction on the opposition and Thorne gets the nod if... actually I don't know why Thorne's in there so for now we'll list him as providing moral support. Kelleher plays if his heads not to big and Weepu gets the nod if his is not too small. Howletts the man if we want more support at the back and Sivivatu plays if we want more support in the front. Robbo locks if we need steel, Ali plays when not advertising soup as a meal. Other than the lame attempts to start rhyming I think you get the idea. You know this reminds me of an American NFL team. A third of the team plays offence, a third plays defence and the remaining third plays special teams. They have multiple players at every position, hence the reason for 5000 players on the bench. Now they have taken SOpRot to the next level because they have SOpRots for different scenarios during a game. Wouldn't that be cool? Envision this, Oliver runs on for a scrum which turns into a ruck so he runs of to be replaced by Mealamu who runs on for the ruck which after awhile becomes a lineout so he runs of, to be replaced by Hore who throws the ball into the lineout which then becomes a ruck so back comes Mealamu until there's a scrum or lineout, which ever happens next. Now come on, that's got to be where Henry's taking this, rotational nirvana. I say bring it on! As a side bar, whatever happened to the all round player who could do everything, you know run, tackle, pass, etc...
Jongo
Rotation was great last year. But the Tri-Nations should have been all about picking and fine tuning the best test side. If the three coaches hadn't decided what the best side is before the Tri-Nations then do they really know at all. My concept of the rotation policy is that key players like Richie McCaw, Dan Carter And Carl Hayman are protected and others developed in their place should they be inured. These three have all played consecutively and other vital positions such as half back, hooker and mid field have been used for experimentation and trial. I do not believe rotation in the Tri-nations is right. It should have been building confidence and power within the best players and best team over 3 games. This Saturday's side is the best test side. But one game together 6 weeks out from World Cup France just isn't convincing me, most New Zealanders and more importantly teams and coaches ready to confront the All Blacks.
Andy (London)
Totally correct by GH as he had to build depth. He has had this team peaking for end-of-year tours each years - 2004, 2005 was mid-year for the Lions, and 2006. Last year's 3N games were pretty tight v Aus and could have gone the other way, yet the ABs were lauded for winning close ones. They haven't been at their peak playing Aus, yet you wonder if Aus will hold this form with no rugby for 3 months while the ABs play internal matches. This one could go either way, but only by 5-10pts. I think the only place you don't "rotate" though is the mid-field. Jason Little and Tim Horan, Frank Bunce and Walter Little, these were two of the best mid-field combos and achieved it by playing together every week. It's the most crucial area on the field and one we've overlooked. The forwards are actually quite settled and pretty much pick themselves except for hooker and lock, which are horses for courses areas anyway. The backline is now settled for 2 weeks in a row (except for halfback) and will be interesting to see if they click this week. If they don't, can you still criticise the rotation policy?
Don't be so arrogant kiwis. Beating SA 33-6 is good. Boks lift a lot facing a black shirt.
Rob - Kiwi in the UK
Rotation is probably the right thing to do if the players being rotated are up to it. Poor old Reubie isn't. Neither is Masoe and Carter. What is amusing though is the collective paranoia of us Kiwis when following a loss, everything the coaching team, captain and players have done is wrong. Henry and company recognise the need to have the side totally peaking for September - they are very close. m The loss in Australia to the just Holden Together Team was an aberration. Are you seriously telling me that there are problems when the side for the most part has spent the last month in transit and run out of gas having gone through the motions? Rubbish - total and utter shash. This is still possibly the greatest All Black side ever assembled. By the end of September these guys will be at their very best - 25 per cent better than the EOYT 2006.
Kiwiruz (Hawaii)
I think rotation is a good way to rest the top choice players against lesser opponents, also in any game any player may be injured at any time so better to keep the 1st choice side fresh for the quarters and semis. Hopefully every AB will get some time in pool play to be in top form. I just don't think the ABs are as good as they were last year, I think they played with a bit more confidence in 06 as there was less WC pressure looming on the horizon. I think if Aussie wins this weekend the old confidence balloon will completely deflate. We have to smash the Wallabies! Go All Blacks!
Strifemit
It's about time New Zealanders had more trust and faith. Henry is doing a great job. Let him get on with it. May the media back off, if that is possible. Stop looking for sensational stories. If anybody loses the cup it will be the media and the over zealous single minded supporters putting unnecessary strain on the players. If you allow Henry and his team and the All Blacks to get on with it and stop criticising them there is a 98 per cent chance of winning the cup. It would be a fool who shows their hand before play.
Aaron (Japan)
Of course Henry is right to continue the rotation policy. It is the basis of his strategy for winning the world cup, and it's too late to change now. Henry's got it right before and I'm sure he's the best man to get it right again. The only thing that could scupper its effectiveness is if it causes division within the group. As long as that doesn't happen I'm confident the team will put up a good show at the WC. It's the way Kiwi supporters are, but I reckon we should get off the AB's backs and let them play. The days of the "A" team are gone, and we just have to get used to it.
Hona Wikeepa
Henry has made the ABs better guys all round in the John Eales mode encouraging them to become better people vocationally as well as role models. Australia realising that the ABs had lifted the aggression stakes abandoned the John Eales good guy approach for the rough tough guy of the Richard Lowe type. Connelly has done his homework and now the AB's are getting manhandled as opposed to doing the manhandling. I think Henry needs to instil the mongrel attitude into the ABs lest we get manhandled out of the RWC again. The only way to win in reality is by forcefully changing the opposition's world view. Against Australia this is not a difficult task. One merely needs to know how the opposition thinks and why. If the AB's continue in the direction they are going at the moment, then the RWC will certainly be another major disappointment. Bring back the mongrel Graham lest we get beaten up again by a very average Australian side.
AB 4Eva
Go for it Graham Henry! I think he is doing an excellent job and I think what he is doing with the players is an excellent idea to get the most out of each individual. We have had all sorts of coaches in the past years and I would say this much that we never had one like Graham. He is thinking and strategizing to counteract any sort of problem the team could face in World Cup 2007. In the last World Cup, we saw the All Blacks being decimated by the Aussies. At halftime a good coach would have changed the game plan to get back into the game when the Aussies where coming right into our face every time we had the ball but the nope the coach had no idea or any impact player to change the game. Graham has done his homework and I am sure he would have watched all the World Cup games we lost and learnt from the mistakes for his predecessor. I think Graham is the person to bring the Cup home after 20 years, his team is not built on any one player and his ability rather he has lined up a group of players that if one doesn't perform he is bound to be replaced. We will get to see a glimpse of the All Blacks this weekend at Eden Park but I don't think it will be the best effort by the team. We will witness the full fiery of the team at the World Cup! Go the Blacks!
Eagle (London)
This Saturday is the real marker on the rotation policy - if the All Blacks lose it, I think the All Blacks are in real trouble for the world cup it's all too late to change things now. But then what a lot of people seem to miss is the fact that the Rugby World Cup is a one off tournament and winning it can come down to 5-10mins of rugby in one game - you can plan for 4 years and analyse this and that - rotate players etc but doesn't it just come down to a team getting a roll on - hit the right form at the right time and have a bit of luck on the day - especially when it comes to the Aussies, or the Boks or French. Who knows, England might just surprise a few and beat South Africa or Aussie - unlikely but that's the nature of a tournament. I wonder whether Henry and the likes have just over complicated things and seen things that just aren't there - I also wonder where have all our players gone - the all blacks look a little short on quality players in some positions now. My view - stop mucking around, put the best team on the field. All Blacks to win on Saturday by 9 points.
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