Lions claw at coach Henry

With the Lions and Wallabies set for the deciding test in a bitterly fought series, the acid is being put on a New Zealander, as CHRIS RATTUE reports.

We've all heard the jokes that start with an Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman and a Welshman. But when you take 40 of them, tack on 10 managers and coaches of various origins, and put a New Zealander in charge, you're not always going to get a funny punchline.

Graham Henry certainly would have had trouble finding a laugh as some of his Lions players turned into long-range snipers, bouncing their bullets off the British newspapers half a world away.

It was hardly surprising that the Lions' high-pressure tour of Australia should start creaking at the seams as the test matches arrived. But at the highest level of shooting yourself in the paw, this Lions squad has proved supreme, and can already claim a world's best title in breaking ranks.

It has left the 54-year-old Henry in the dock charged with all sorts of crimes, including trying too hard and being some kind of raving lunatic who screams at his band of - what we are led to believe - not so merry men.

That players would even consider launching such bitter attacks on their coaches and managers almost defies belief if you have been brought up in the land of the All Blacks, where team unity is stamped on the chest right next to the heart and behind the silver fern.

The truth, of course, is that not all All Blacks have been happy campers - it's just that they don't go running around in public shouting their bosses down while they're still on the job.

English halfback Matt Dawson started the rot, choosing the eve of the first test to tell the world, through his tour diary in a newspaper, that the Lions were enduring too much "mindless preparation," accusing Henry of "too much shouting and screaming," and claiming a large section of players wanted to quit the tour.

Dawson, to no one's surprise, was not required to leave the reserves bench as the Lions won that first encounter in Brisbane although he quickly grovelled around with an apology, and has survived to make the third test starters.

It was also no surprise to anyone associated with British rugby that Dawson's little English team-mate, Austin Healey, provided the follow-up blows.

The Leicester Lip, maybe upset that Dawson had scored so much print, claimed that training "goes on and on," which is something Healey is often accused of in the verbal department. Healey, too, has survived to start in the third test.

And the bleating reached a high or low point, depending on your view, late this week when Irish lock Malcolm O'Kelly claimed those outside the test squad were receiving "negative and hostile" feedback.

"It's hard not to feel bitter about the lack of faith or confidence in the second rows," said O'Kelly.

"Personally, I will come out of this tour motivated by the prospect of playing England, Scotland and Wales when, hopefully, a point or two will be made," continued the irate Irishman, perhaps forgetting that his countrymen Keith Wood, Rob Henderson and Brian O'Driscoll have been key parts of the Lions' campaign.

Put it this way. Henry may be struggling to utter O'Kelly's nickname, which is Buddy.

All this must have taken Henry back to some of the schoolyard spats he dealt with as a teacher and headmaster, although it is unlikely he ever endured such attacks on his authority.

So what in the Henry character may have led to these charges and how will he deal with it in a week which many of his old comrades in Auckland believe will be the defining moment in a 25-year coaching career?

John Graham, a headmaster when he first met third-former Henry at Christchurch Boys High, says Henry's strength as a single-minded rugby analyst who will step on a few toes could be a handicap in dealing with such a diverse group as the Lions.

The Henry way would have been to pinpoint his test-contenders early on for such a short and demanding tour, leaving the way open for discontent among a group of men, many of whom did not have a shared history and are often enemies on the field.

The English players in particular, who can sway towards the arrogant and have such a pampered and successful existence under the wing of Clive Woodward and their rich union, may be struggling with Henry's habits which are based on cold, hard analysis.

"He's not the touchy, feely Samaritan type," as one British writer put it.

And John Graham says the former Auckland and Blues coach will not be fazed by the attacks from some of his players.

"His way is a strength for a coach in New Zealand but it will not necessarily be seen as a strength, particularly by some of the English players in the Lions team. But Graham will have remained fully focussed this week," says Graham, who was Henry's Auckland assistant coach and also hired him at Auckland Grammar.

"He has a certain dourness about him under pressure. What I mean is that he deals with pressure by going into isolation. Some people might deal with pressure by becoming talkative and seeking out people for help. But not Graham. He goes away on his own.

"That is why he is known as a person who is hard to get to know, but once he trusts someone it is a different story.

"He will be analysing videos this week and one of his strengths is his ability to really focus and work out the plan. He is the most remarkable person I've met like that.

"When I was his assistant at Auckland for three years, I'd go into his room where he'd be analysing the videos and give him a cup of coffee. He'd say thanks, but what he really meant was, 'It's very good of you but could you please leave me alone'."

But while Henry will plough on regardless, Graham believes that splits and dissatisfaction in the team have severely affected the Lions' chances.

After dominating the first test and the first half of the second, their second-half capitulation in Melbourne revealed a team whose inner strength and resolve had been eroded.

"If they fail, and they will do if they lose the third test, some of the players should be looking at themselves and not the coaches," says Graham.

A central theme to the Henry coaching methods is video analysis - he spent 50 hours studying Australia's last 10 tests before the Lions embarked on their 10-match tour. World Cup-winning prop John Drake remembers Henry videoing their Auckland Grammar matches, and having someone video their next opponent's matches as well. This was in the 1970s when top-level coaches were still relying on the old pen and notebook.

Henry's wife Raewyn tells friends of waking up in the middle of the night to find her husband has vacated the bed in favour of a bout of video analysis.

Says Grant Fox, who was first coached by Henry as a fourth-former: "He is a very motivated, driven man. He loves winning. He'd crawl over broken glass to win. He is a meticulous planner and very good strategist.

"Even Graham would admit that his man management wasn't always the best, but he was someone who really flourished under professionalism when he had the time to deal with individual players.

"I've got no idea how he managed to be a headmaster and coach Auckland as well. That showed how driven and organised he was, although he must have had a good deputy."

Fox says that Henry becomes "wound up like a spring" in the lead-up to big games. Whereas some coaches who Fox played under, such as Brian Lochore, Maurice Trapp and Bryan Williams, kept an outer calm whatever the situation, Henry's demeanour changed on the big occasions.

"Grizz [Alex Wyllie] would get grumpier, Laurie Mains used to get very tense. Graham becomes less patient and his bark might be a bit closer to the surface," says Fox.

But what all those associated with Henry can't believe is Dawson's claims that the coach screamed at his players. While Henry can be terse, there is a steady tone to his voice at all times. John Graham suggests that the British media, who deal in a cut-throat environment that demands the sensational, squeezed a bit more than the truth out of Dawson.

Drake says: "Graham was never a screamer. But he is very ruthless. He would grab the ball and go 'this is what I want you to do'."

From his earliest coaching days, Henry has shown a relentless style in the pursuit of victory. At Kelston Boys High he recruited members of a touring Samoan schoolboy side to bolster his first XV.

When he took over at Wales, he scoured the world for reinforcements, leading to "grannygate" when it was revealed that his former All Black fullback Shane Howarth's family tree had not managed to spread its roots into Wales.

The words of his old comrades in Auckland such as Graham, Fox and Drake show that he develops tremendous loyalty, but Henry has found on this Lions tour that after stepping on over-sensitive toes, some were prepared to kick back.

Now, ironically, his place in rugby history rests in the hands of some malcontents.

Henry is a man who has never left anything to chance. He even wore a lucky shirt to every match when his Auckland Grammar side embarked on a three-year unbeaten run.

But if the Lions fail, he may need a bulletproof vest when Dawson, Healey and company get back to Britain and snuggle up with their media mates again.