Wynne Gray: Let's give coaching team one more roll of the dice

Graham Henry. Photo / Getty Images

Done and dusted for another season. The All Blacks turned over all five of their foes in the last sector of their test programme while also attempting to reinvent themselves.

After 5 years in the same portfolios, the coaches rolled the dice and altered their duties. Graham Henry moved from defence into sorting out the forwards, Wayne Smith went from the backline to defensive boss and Steve Hansen shuffled from the forwards to the backs.

Having completed the successful end-of-year-stint, Hansen is making noises about returning to deal with the pack again. This trip though might prompt other ideas.

If the job swap has been beneficial for the coaches and the players, if it has sparked new thoughts, ideas and enthusiasm and added extra dimensions to their calibre, then let's persevere or add to it.

Throw Smith into work as the forwards boss for the June tests next year, Hansen the defensive responsibilities and lump the backs' portfolio on Henry's desk.

Once that part of the season is done, they can sort out what coaching paths they want to travel in the year left before the 2011 World Cup.

Just as Henry and Co have noticed how the game has changed for wings, they might wring the best out of themselves with another job swap before taking on all the anxieties and pressures of trying to claim a second global crown.

Henry is as experienced as any rugby coach on the planet though he admitted before this tour that he was churning up a touch about working with the forwards. It had been a while since he had worked consistently with the men with small numbers on their jerseys.

Scrum coach Mike Cron was on hand and the senior players packed plenty of experience but Henry was a little anxious about his role. He had to swot hard because it was not second nature, he had to unpick strategies and reassess his aims, tidy the lineouts, marry the pack to the laws and officials' rulings.

Ditto for Smith and Hansen and their new duties.

There were some tough times, but they coped and the All Blacks rumbled through Tokyo, Cardiff, Milan, London and Marseille with five victories.

It would not have been easy on the coaches, but they weathered it and the diligent, delightfully introspective Smith would probably acknowledge it had been a boon to his skills.

Hansen does not appear so convinced, with reports he wants to return to work with the pack. Fair enough if that is how the All Black panel see their best fit in the buildup to the next World Cup.

But before then, they should contemplate whether one more roll of the coaching dice would give them an even sharper focus before the hunt for the Holy Grail starts its countdown.