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Wales captain Gareth Thomas has criticised All Black coach Graham Henry for being aloof and superior - and confessed he once cheered for Wales to lose so Henry would be sacked.
In his new book, Alfie, and in excerpts published in the Western Mail newspaper, Thomas says he
and Henry never got on when the New Zealander was in charge of Wales, although he admits Henry's record proves he is an outstanding coach.
"I could be on a beach somewhere soaking up the sun rather than being here. That was more or less the first sentiment conveyed to the Wales team by Graham Henry when he took charge," said Thomas in the excerpt.
"It was almost as if he was saying to us, 'You lot are lucky to have me.' Look, I know he had given up his time in New Zealand to come over to coach Wales but it was not as if he was doing it for nothing."
Thomas said they never got on because they seemed to have a teacher-pupil relationship.
Another problem was that Henry surrounded himself with senior players "who seemed to be the only ones who mattered" to him.
"I'm talking about the likes of Rob Howley, Scott Quinnell and Scott Gibbs. It was a difficult place to be unless you were a senior player. Graham put people like those three almost on the identical level as him, with the rest, including me, on a level below."
Thomas said he did not regard Henry as superior to other coaches.
"Why? Well, he just didn't motivate me. One of the things that used to annoy me was that he was always comparing me with other players. He would tell me I needed to play like John Kirwan and advise me to go and dig out some videos of the great man and watch them.
"I would think to myself, 'I'm not John Kirwan and I never will be. If you are going to pick me in your team, pick me because I am Gareth Thomas'."
Thomas was dropped by Henry for a match against Scotland in 2001 when Thomas was on the bench. He was angered when told by a Henry staffer that he was out of the squad and had to play for Wales A instead - angry because he and Henry had met earlier and nothing had been said.
Thomas continued to miss out on the team and in Henry's last game - a 50-point hiding by Ireland in 2002 - he was listening to the match on the radio.
"Ireland scored after a couple of minutes and their scores started to come thick and fast. After almost every one of them, I shouted in delight - I'm embarrassed to say I was pleased Wales were losing.
"The main reason was that I could sense the Henry era was coming to an end and I wanted whatever was going to hasten that process to come about. Nothing would be better than a heavy defeat.
"By then, I had reached the end of my tether with him and everything that he stood for."
However, Thomas said he didn't celebrate too hard because his successor was Steve Hansen.
"I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the guy today but at the time he took charge, I and plenty of others in the squad just couldn't stand him," said Thomas in his book.
However, the Welsh team were surprised that Hansen was one of the few who stood up to Henry and told how the pair, although they went on to have a fine working relationship with the All Blacks, didn't always see eye to eye. They once had a blazing 10-minute row in front of the players, with Henry accusing Hansen of being after his job and Hansen denying it.
In two weeks, Henry was gone and Hansen was the boss.
