New Zealand 44
England 12
View photos: All Blacks v England, second testKEY POINTS:
No one defies convention quite like Graham Henry. The All Black coach has selected 51 test sides since 2004 and never once has he named the same starting XV in consecutive tests.
Yet, the All Blacks, before last night's test, had won 44 games under Henry - giving
them a win ratio of 88 per cent.
Statistically, at least, he has shown that consistency of selection is not a prerequisite to winning tests. No other international side has won anywhere near the same number of games during the same period and no other side has rotated players to the same extent.
For all the success the All Blacks have enjoyed under Henry, though, there remains an undercurrent of discontent.
At times it is hard to fathom - every other nation would kill for a similar win ratio.
Coaches are paid to win to tests and simple fact is the All Blacks have won more tests under Henry than they have under any other coach of the professional era.
Before he came along the All Blacks, by and large, subscribed to the view of picking the same team, and they won 73 per cent of their tests between 1996 and 2003. Then Henry came along, made an average of seven changes per test and upped the ratio to almost 90 per cent.
Henry should really be seen as a genius. But, for all the success, for all the quality performances that have been delivered in the last four years, there is no sense of elation, of national euphoria at the All Blacks' superiority.
Henry hasn't won the hearts and minds of the New Zealand public. He is widely respected, but it is with a detached coldness reserved for a skilled dentist or efficient accountant.
At the core of that relative estrangement between team and public is the lack of identity. Test rugby is like pantomime - it needs heroes and villains and they have all but vanished.
Only Richie McCaw has built anything resembling an enduring legacy - and could that be because he has mostly escaped the clutches of rotation?
It's tough to build heroes when, if all the changes made from test to test are added up since 2004, the total comes to 363. Injuries and overseas defections account for some of that total. But pushing player welfare up the priority list has been the major contributing factor.
Henry has never really been given enough credit for pre-empting when a player might be about to fall over. Coaches of old felt the pressure to play blokes even when they were half crippled and the margins in test rugby are too small to get away with being even 5 per cent off your game.
And that was really the point of rotation - to build enough depth so there would always be 15 players in the squad capable of giving 100 per cent.
The policy became excessive though. Some might say that started at the tail end of 2005 when the All Blacks beat Wales in Cardiff then made 15 changes for the next test against Ireland. Another 10 changes were made for the next game, then 13 more were made for the final game of that Grand Slam tour against Scotland.
In 2006, 15 changes were made after the second test in June against Ireland and after the first Tri Nations game against Australia the number of changes from test to test went as follows; nine, seven, four, 11, 11.
But as much as supporters might not have liked the constant changing, it was in pursuit of a bigger goal. It was all part of a well-conceived plan.
Henry wanted to build a squad of 30 genuine test players by the end of 2006 ahead of the World Cup. Having built that squad, the plan, as the coaches sold it at the start of 2007, was to then hone the best XV, to work the combinations and arrive in France with a battle-hardened crew who had built momentum through consistency of selection during the Tri Nations.
The 22 best players had been granted the conditioning window they needed, they were physically improved and recuperated and all they needed was game time.
But that was the one thing they didn't get enough of. The number of changes from test to test didn't drop in 2007 and rotation knocked the All Blacks out of the World Cup. It felt like the All Black coaches lost sight of their plan, rotated for the sake of it.
Rotation, when done in moderation, is a valid strategy. But the public is wary.
It was overdone in 2007 and leaving Conrad Smith out of last night's side feels like another case of unnecessary meddling.
The All Blacks have been in search of a quality centre for two years and a settled midfield combination. Smith and Ma'a Nonu were playing well, working as a pair and were identified by Henry as being "exceptional" against England at Eden Park.
Smith was left out on the justification Richard Kahui needs experience ahead of the Tri Nations and that he might be better.
It's the latter rationale that is most worrying. There has to be a culture in place that says if a player delivers, does all he is asked and more, he is rewarded with reselection.
Players have to trust that selection in the All Blacks means you have been identified as the best in your position - not that you might be, but we need to check out the other guy just in case.
Henry remains an excellent coach and because he's smart, he'll work out that right now the nation wants heroes. It wants to get behind the All Blacks and to do that, it needs to feel connected.
Anything other than familiarity during the Tri Nations will breed contempt.
* The statistics
- 51 tests
- 363 player changes
- Average of seven changes per test
- 88% win record
