I'm not planning to quit, says Henry

Graham Henry

Graham Henry has scotched a French newspaper report that he's planning to step down as All Blacks coach after next year's World Cup.

Rugby paper Midi Olympique claimed yesterday that Henry had flagged the conclusion of the World Cup in France at the end of 2007 as his farewell to the All Blacks job he has held since 2004.

However Henry, 60, insisted yesterday he had made no decision on his coaching future after the tournament.

"We're all focused on coaching the All Blacks to the World Cup," he said in a statement last night.

"Our contracts are up after the World Cup and the New Zealand Rugby Union will look at what's best for the team at the appropriate time."

How the story came about is a mystery to the All Black management as the topic was not raised at any formal press conferences when the team were in Brisbane for their Bledisloe Cup match against Australia last weekend.

Chief among the possible reasons for the story is that an off the cuff remark by Henry in a casual setting may have been misinterpreted.

If the All Blacks win the World Cup, Henry might be keen to carry on.

But even if they do lift the Webb Ellis Cup, history offers an argument that he might step down after the tournament irrespective of how his team fares.

He will have had four years in the job, and that seems the favoured cycle, from one World Cup to the next.

Alex Wyllie had four years from 1988, culminating in the semifinal loss in Dublin in 1991; whereupon Laurie Mains had his four-year term. That ended in extra-time agony against South Africa in Johannesburg.

John Hart took over in 1996 and his tenure wound up in semifinal defeat to France in 1999.

The only break in that pattern since the first World Cup - when Sir Brian Lochore led the All Blacks to victory on home soil in 1987 - came when current assistant coach Wayne Smith's term was cut short at two years in 2001 by the NZRFU.

John Mitchell brought a vastly different approach in taking over from Smith, but he was finished after another semifinal defeat, to Australia in Sydney in 2003.

So there is a certain symmetry in place and it would be entirely logical that the NZRFU have discussed lines of succession with the panel.

Henry's statement last night offered an intriguing hint. "Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith are both very talented coaches, which is great for New Zealand rugby," he said.

The report claimed Henry said Hansen, who followed him as Wales coach before returning to the All Blacks position, was being groomed to take over and that Smith was keen to carry on in an assistant's role in 2008.