Rugby: Welsh saviour steers clear of rugby zealots

By Chris Rattue

Graham Henry is planning the revival of Welsh rugby from a village retreat near Cardiff.

Henry and his wife Raewyn decided six weeks ago to buy the house they had been renting, an old coach house in Castleton which is between Cardiff and Newport in the south of Wales.

Raewyn looked at about 80 houses but could not find one suitable in Cardiff before the couple decided to stay in the village. And the Welsh coach admits the overwhelming passion in that country for rugby can be too much at times, another reason why they decided on the village retreat.

"Our neighbours have been very good - they know we're there but they don't tell people where we are," says Henry.

"I've always tried to keep a pretty low profile anyway. "

Henry describes the Welsh rugby passion as "frightening really."

"I think it is over the top and I've made those statements in Wales.

"With a test match there you will find the papers might have eight to 10 pages just on match coverage.

"At our first Five Nations match against Scotland at Murrayfield, 20,000 Welsh supporters who did not even have tickets travelled to Edinburgh just to be there for the occasion.

"You will notice that I'm often quoted saying things like we have got to keep our feet on the ground.

"My aim is to try to keep that pressure off the players. I believe it [the public pressure] has played a part in the troubles Welsh rugby has had."

So what has been the Henry strategy for Welsh rugby? Ask him about the problems, and he says it would take hours to explain.

But professionalism in British rugby, he says, has been embraced in a strange way.

"Everyone who plays seems to get paid and there are seven divisions of rugby in Wales," says Henry.

"I was at a small club recently where they were paying $40 a win. They'd played seven rounds and hadn't won a game but the committee was worried they'd win a game, because then they'd have to pay out."

One dominant part of the Henry strategy that emerges is that the former school teacher cares little for what has happened in the past. Maybe that is the key to success there, not carrying any baggage.

Before he even took up the job, he professed to not knowing who his predecessor at Wales had been. He has no idea about how many players he has "dropped" from the previous Welsh squads for much the same reason.

Ask him how he instilled such proud defence in a team that was, excuse the pun, a "leeky" boat, and he comes up with a similar answer.

"I don't know what went on before so I can't compare it," he says.

But does the Henry strategy include scouring the world to find high-class recruits with sufficient Welsh bloodlines? His World Cup squad includes players like New Zealanders Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson, and South African prop Peter Rogers.

Henry says no - "it doesn't work that way" - although he admits to Wales negotiating with New South Wales midfield back Jason Jones-Hughes for nine months.

Jones-Hughes was named in the World Cup squad this week although Australia says he is ineligible because he has played for Australian Barbarians, which counts as the second national team. The IRB is making a ruling on the dispute.

"I've done what I've always done and set out to create the best environment for the players, in which they want to be there and are excited about the opportunities," says Henry.

"It is vital to select the right management team and I did a lot of homework on that before I went there. I've been lucky enough to trip over the right people."

Henry has already experienced the usual ups-and-downs of coaching at test level in Wales' Five Nations campaign, but the really significant results have come against South Africa.

Wales were humbled, no humiliated, by the World Champions 96-13 in Pretoria in June before Henry took over. Yet they only just pipped Henry's side at Wembley late last year, then Wales scored an historic first win over South Africa in Cardiff last month.

Howarth, Sinkinson and company may be playing a part in helping Welsh rugby climb out its valleys, but the most passionate of rugby nations is already believing that the most important recruit of all is Henry.