KEY POINTS:
Graham Henry says the support of ordinary New Zealanders convinced him to ask for his job back.
Yesterday Henry was reappointed as All Blacks coach for another two years, and said it was the emails, handshakes, faxes and letters of ordinary New Zealanders which had convinced him to reapply.
Still crushed by the All Blacks Rugby World Cup quarter final defeat to France, the 61-year-old frankly admitted three weeks ago that he did not know if he still wanted to coach the national team.
Yesterday, having staved off the challenges of frontrunner Robbie Deans and outsiders Colin Cooper and Ian Foster, Henry said the backing he had received from the people he worked closest with and the public at large had encouraged him to stand again.
"If you haven't got the support of the people you are working with then you're wasting your time. I think that was hugely important, and that was the major incentive really," Henry said.
"The New Zealand public generally have been exceptionally supportive - they have amazed me really. The noticeboard upstairs is covered with letters of support: emails, people stopping you in the street and wishing you well, and I have really appreciated what they have done, it's been very heartening.
"But at the end of the day you apply for this position because you think you are making a difference."
Under Henry's leadership the All Blacks did not lose many games - just six - but lost the game which mattered the most, the Rugby World Cup quarter-final against France. Henry said he was still haunted by the 18-20 loss to France in Cardiff.
"It plays on my mind every day, Not as frequently as the first couple of days, but it's there. It will be there forever."
Henry's wife Raewyn and two of their three children were in Cardiff that day. Their support then and after had been important in making his decision to once more subject himself to the pressure and profile of coaching the All Blacks, Henry said.
"The whole family decided. Raewyn and I have got two boys and a girl. The two boys arrived the day before the (Cardiff) game and it was an extremely emotional scene after the game, the next morning when I finally got away from my responsibilities to be able to spend some time with the family.
"That was an extremely emotional occasion: I felt for them, they felt for me. It brought us even closer. But I think they are proud of what I tried to do and very supportive of what I try to do. They don't like the pressure of what I try to do, but I've done it for a long time. I don't know if you ever get used to it, but they are supportive and I really respect that.
"My wife is a sports coach, a very successful sports coach, the best sports coach in the family, and she's been outstanding quite frankly, and we've got a lot of good mates who have continued to offer support either by phone or email or dropping around, and I owe them a lot."
