Rugby is a clumsy, bumbling game unless very fit and clever exponents are trained to operate together at spectacular levels of pace, precision, vision and adventure.
Henry has developed a team not just to win the Cup but to win it well. In fact he gives the impression he is not much interested in winning it unless he can win it well.
That was certainly so before the last World Cup and it is to hiseternal credit if it remains so, despite the controversy over his re-appointment and the pressure he faces now.
When the names Cory Jane and Zac Guildford were read out this week, their selection spoke louder than Henry ever does about his intentions.
I am in awe of the man, knowing as he does the prevailing view in this country. Go to any number of so-called rugby fans and just about all will say they don't care how he wins as long as he wins the damned thing this time.
That is what I need to talk about before the guests get here.
This desperate need could be a national embarrassment. Guests who haven't been here before probably imagine we are mentally secure. The New Zealanders they have seen are All Blacks.
They know they are coming to the game's apogee, the place in the world where it is the unrivalled national sport and finds its best expression. They know its reservoirs of excellence here, not only by the teams they see on television but by the many fine players who come as professionals to play in their competitions.
Cup visitors will be looking forward to seeing the place that produces them.
I'd like to think they'll find a country of amiable, modest people, quietly aware of their record at this sport but ready to respect the efforts of others to play it and eager to see how they go.
I have known New Zealanders like this, good rugby players and their families. I wish all the New Zealanders World Cup visitors will meet would be like this but I'm worried. We have not shown the slightest interest yet in the teams that will be coming.
Like ours, they were finalised only this week but, even so, we might have heard or read something by now about notable players and the state of the game in the various countries attending.
We've been talking only about the All Blacks and the dreadful possibility they might not win.
To stake so much on a knock-out tournament is ridiculous.
The appeal of the format is unpredictability. The best can be beaten on the day, especially in a sport that depends so much on an umpire.
Rugby is bedevilled by rules that hardly anyone understands, which referees have to apply at high speed in fractions of a second. They always miss a lot of offences and see some that television replays show to be dubious or negligible.
Rugby appeals to my Celtic sense of law that says rules are less important than the purpose they are supposed to serve. Rugby rules are intended help the play flow and produce a spectacle.
But the Germanic view of law is quite different. We are going to be hosting a barmy army of Anglo-Saxons over the next eight weeks. They will be good fun off the field but, when games are on, they'll howl at the injustice of everything a good referee ignores.
They're accustomed to a contest of scrums and penalties. Be patient with them. Despite themselves, they'll love the spectacle we can produce.
Henry is developing a team that looks so good, so quick and accurate and resourceful that it might adapt to any referee and inspire every team in the tournament.
But please don't speak of any of this when the guests get here. Be the New Zealanders they expect and, when we win with rugby from Heaven, pretend we had aspired to nothing less.
