KEY POINTS:
The Grand Slam was an emphatic vindication, not only of Graham Henry but of the men who decided to keep him on after the debacle at Cardiff in the World Cup last year. In all kinds of high-stakes international sport, the conventional wisdom has always been that coaches
who fail in the big ones get the blame and pay with their jobs.
Until this year, All Black coaches were no exception to the rule. Each of Henry's two predecessors - John Mitchell and John Hart - were given a "don't come Monday" after failure at the biggest tournament in rugby union.
To go against the grain and reappoint Henry took some courage, not least because, like his predecessors, he faced hostile resentment from some sections of the rugby community which continued to smoulder even as the events of Cardiff began to fade in memory.
As recently as the first international against Ireland this year, some were saying they could not back an All Black team with Henry still at the helm.
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Such emotive talk had the potential to deeply divide New Zealand rugby, especially as there was a great contender in the person of Robbie Deans waiting in the wings to take over.
It is to the NZRU's credit that they stuck to their guns - and their man. It would have been all too easy to bow to the considerable pressure despite the fact that there was plenty of evidence to justify the conclusion that the traditional approach of sacking the coach after every World Cup failure was wrong. Certainly, it has not yet produced the desired result - victory at the next one.
It was therefore a smart move to try a different method. Instead of sacking a man after just one failure, give him a chance to learn from his mistakes. This is one of those things that is easier said than done. It takes a degree of humility but Henry appears to have faced up to it.
The controversial conditioning programme is a dead letter.
It is widely acknowledged that on-field leadership has greatly improved. And although the rotation policy has not been abandoned entirely, it has been ironed out to the point where we now have an identifiable First XV.
They were the ones who played the last three legs of the Grand Slam and who so comprehensively demolished England in the last 20 minutes at Twickenham yesterday morning after staunchly defending for 60 minutes against their fired-up opponents' spoiling - some would say cynical - tactics.
What made the triumph all the sweeter was the reminder that none of the four home nations could muster the firepower to cross the All Black line even once in 320 minutes of rugby.
To many fans, the world is now right side up again with the All Blacks on top and England replaced in the top four by Argentina. This point is of major significance because this week the draw for the 2011 World Cup takes place and it will be based on these seedings.
To make the draw now may seem unreasonably early.
As we know, a year is a long time in rugby and there will be plenty of opportunities for England to claw back some credibility.
But what seems a fair bet, given recent history, is that the All Blacks will remain there or thereabouts as the number one rugby team in the world.
The trick will be to convert that ranking into the title of World Champions.
If Graham Henry sticks around to make the attempt and succeeds, the redemption of the Great Redeemer will be complete.
