Press turns up heat on Henry

LONDON - Welsh coach Graham Henry may have sidestepped questions about resigning after Monday's record Six Nations 54-10 thrashing by Ireland but the British media have him in their sights.

The former Auckland and Blues coach, whose sobriquet of the "Great Redeemer" has become increasingly tarnished in the past year and was not helped by his autocratic behaviour in charge of the Lions last year, was universally slammed by the media and former players.

The Daily Telegraph labelled what was Wales' second worst defeat in its glorious Five/Six Nations history as a "shocker".

"Wales were reduced to a shambling mess of a team and their coach, Graham Henry, will do extraordinarily well to retain his job beyond the end of this month," it said.

"At a cringing post-match press conference the magnitude of the loss and the poverty of the performance scarcely seemed to have sunk in.

"They were awful and seemingly without hope.

"Lose badly to France in a fortnight and Henry will either have to fall on his sword or the Welsh Rugby Union must bite the bullet and pay him off.

"The Welsh public will demand nothing less."

Former Welsh and Lions star winger Gerald Davies called for nothing more than a total overhaul of the team.

"Wales are in the grip of such desolation that it is hard to see how their morale can be raised," he wrote in the Times.

"They are likely to find themselves on the wrong end of a rout every time they step out on to the pitch either at home or away.

"They are now in need of a serious operation and not just cosmetic surgery.

"Wales need to be honest with themselves. Change in the structure is urgent, change in playing culture a desperate requirement."

Another former Welsh and Lions international, Gareth Davies, called for Henry to take a good look at himself and accept responsibility for the dreadful series of performances.

"The disappointing thing with Wales' display is that we don't seem to be building any kind of style. We just look to be a bit of a shambles - 15 players on the pitch with no cohesion.

"You have got to blame the players for a start but when you've got huge investment into top-end coaches and players, coaches earning £250,000 ($865,000) a year have to hold their hands up - there has to be some kind of responsibility.

"So many coaches have come and gone. The big difference is there's more accountability so I think his [Henry's] job could be on the line."

The Times opined that the Welsh had simply given up, reflecting the thinking that Henry has lost the confidence of his players.

That was certainly the case of the Welsh players who went on the Lions tour. Two of them, Scott Gibbs and Dai Young, have since retired from international rugby and a third, flanker Colin Charvis, opted for a holiday in Jamaica instead of returning to play for his country.

* The president of the Italian Rugby Federation yesterday gave a public vote of confidence to national team coach Brad Johnstone after media reports that the former All Black prop's job was in jeopardy following the 33-12 defeat by France at the weekend.

Giancarlo Dondi, a staunch ally of Johnstone who fought off an attempt to oust him last year, rubbished reports that Johnstone's assistant, former All Black great John Kirwan, was set to replace him.

"I would like to confirm that Brad Johnstone is the coach of the Italian national team and that it is not under discussion."

- AGENCIES