Richard Loe: All Black coaches need to step up or walk away

The test match in Durban overnight is an essential one for the All Blacks and I hope the result goes our way.

If it doesn't, there are going to be some hard looks cast in the direction of the coaching team.

Back in June and again early last month, I said in columns that this was an enormously difficult time for Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith - because player stocks were low and because of injuries to key players and because of the difficult Tri Nations draw.

We can't lose sight of those factors but - and it's a big but now - Henry and co had a massive challenge. They had a real coaching job to do.

On the evidence of last weekend, they still do.

I went to a social gathering for my son's rugby team last Sunday and one of the boys asked me what I thought about the All Blacks' performance.

"What did you think?" I asked.

"You would have kicked our arses if we'd done some of those dumb things," he said.

I asked him whether he thought Henry would "kick arses".

"Doubt it," he said. And that's from a 15-year-old.

I am worried because, to me, the problems are still there, right across this team, and while there have been some improvements, there haven't been enough.

The issues are:

Selection - why was Brendon Leonard playing? Answer, according to Graham Henry: To give him a game. But this was a test. Against the world champions. Leonard had a nightmare. If he needed a game, there was the Waikato club final and then the Air New Zealand Cup. You don't play test rugby unless you are ready for it. This has happened time and again. Jimmy Cowan had to play.

Tight five - I felt our tight five simply weren't aggressive enough and, for much of that match, seemed as though they were awed by the physicality of the Springboks. That's mental toughness. Yes, the players involved have to wear some of the blame for that but it is also a coaching basic - to provide the environment from which that belief comes.

Lineouts - we are still (still!) having huge problems at the lineout. Our throwers are not finding the mark and, for some reason that escapes me, our jumpers do not contest the opposition throw. I have spoken to ex-All Blacks and coaches up and down this country and none of them knows why we are not contesting. Jason Eaton must have been the worst sub in the last decade but he at least jumped and won one ball - probably against orders.

Basics - we are still struggling with basics like restarts and kick-offs and, when the All Blacks lost the test last weekend, it was down to organisation (or lack of it). Piri Weepu took an age to organise players and then threw a shoddy pass. But this is the All Blacks. Weepu should not have to organise players like that. All Blacks should know what to do in such situations - they should not have to be organised. Not when they are paid that much and when they are coached by so many coaches.

The backs - our back three looked hopeful, at best. Mils Muliaina has had two or three very quiet tests now and Joe Rokocoko just isn't doing the business. Their confidence looks down. Conrad Smith was really the only back to shine although Stephen Donald did okay.

You look at that list and it's a worry, isn't it?

The coaches are now coming under scrutiny from people saying they have been with the team too long; that they don't have anything new to offer; it's just more of the same.

Yet that is supposed to be a strength of Henry's - the ability to select, to learn, to adapt, to find a way.

In a column earlier this year, I said that Henry should be re-appointed as coach but not given a free ride to the World Cup; that the appointment should be reviewed annually. That is looking to be a better and better call.

The current players in the All Blacks are good enough but I repeat: we need a coaching job to be done here - and fast.

If the three coaches can't do it, maybe it's time to sever the links. Many people have said that Colin Cooper and Ian Foster aren't up to the job but I am beginning to think that they would at least bring in some new thinking - they couldn't do much worse.

Or ... I hear Warren Gatland is on holiday in Waihi.