Former All Blacks World Cup-winning coach Sir Graham Henry has revealed that he was not up to the job when appointed British and Irish Lions coach for the 2001 tour to Australia and that it should have gone to Sir Clive Woodward.
In a frank admission, Sir Graham, who was to part company with Wales within 12 months after returning from losing the series 2-1 to the Wallabies, believes that he "wasted" the opportunity given to him as the first overseas coach to lead the Lions. He also stated, however, that the harsh lessons learned from that experience led him to overhaul his style of coaching which he then employed to such good effect when helping guide the All Blacks to World Cup glory on home soil in 2011.
The Lions tour was mired in controversy, with scrum-half Matt Dawson publicly berating the management, mid-tour, for the "harshness" of the training regime. Sir Graham did not comment on specifics but acknowledged that his approach was wrong.
"I wasn't ready to take up the job - the Welsh rugby union warned me that it was too big a step and that I needed time to prepare, being the arrogant little sod that I was, I didn't listen, thought I could handle it, but they were dead right," said Sir Graham. "The Lions made a poor decision in making me coach. Clive [Woodward] should have done it. I was lucky to survive and to learn so much."
