Graham Henry: This is the best All Blacks side ever

Name: Rugby: All Blacks will beat the Springboks
Uploaded: 2015-10-24T06:24:55+13:00
Duration: 237 s
Description: Gregor Paul and Patrick McKendry are pitch side with the All Blacks at the captains run before the knockout semifinal against the Springboks, and they expect big things from Aaron Smith and the All Blacks kicking game.

NZ Herald

23 Oct, 2015 08:15 PM3 mins to read

Gregor Paul and Patrick McKendry are pitch side with the All Blacks at the captains run before the knockout semifinal against the Springboks, and they expect big things from Aaron Smith and the All Blacks kicking game.

Rugby World Cup winning coach Graham Henry believes the current All Blacks side is the best ever New Zealand team and that Sunday's Rugby World Cup semifinal opponents South Africa are on the wane.

Writing for the Guardian Henry, who coached the All Blacks at two World Cups, says that South Africa have dumped the 15-man game that helped them beat the All Blacks last year at Ellis Park which is why they won't win Sunday's clash against a side he regards as the best ever.

Since Steve Hansen took over from Henry following the 2011 World Cup final at Eden Park, the All Blacks have played 52 tests, losing just three with two draws, compiling a staggering 92 percent win record.

In comparison Sunday's opponent South Africa have lost 10 more tests with a win percentage of just under 70.

"It is difficult to compare teams through the decades, but the current All Black side is probably the best New Zealand have ever produced," Henry wrote.

"Their record backs up that belief: just three defeats since the last World Cup while, when you look at South Africa's recent results, they appear to be on the wane. It should make Saturday's semifinal a foregone conclusion but a meeting between the game's two superpowers never is."

Henry says South Africa will be at their best at Twickenham in just the fourth meeting between the two great rivals at a Rugby World Cup and the first ever semifinal match-up, however stating that they don't look like contenders to win the tournament.

"They look to have neither the form nor the momentum of a serious World Cup contender and have gone back to the future, dumping the 15-man game that helped them beat the All Blacks last year in one of the greatest games of all time and reverting to physicality ahead of skill.

"They are sound in the set-pieces, the line-out especially, but South Africa's outside backs are largely unemployed. The forwards truck it up, mainly one out from the breakdown, and, with their body height poor, the result is invariably slow, unusable ball. In defence, their tight five appears to be slow and disorganised."

Despite that Henry believes it won't be a walkover for the All Blacks and that whichever side handles the unexpected with advance to the final against either Australia or Argentina.

"It should be the All Blacks all the way, but there is a massive rugby history over the last hundred years between these two great rugby nations. South Africa have the second-most experienced team in the tournament after the All Blacks, they have a potent loose forward trio in Schalk Burger, Francois Louw and Duane Vermeulen, a young but talented midfield and proven finishers in the back three. And they have Fourie du Preez at scrum-half, a general supreme. They will be very difficult to beat," Henry added.

"Historically, World Cup semi-finals are close and often the winners are the teams that best handle the unexpected; a card or two, an injury prior to or during the game to a key player or players and maybe - maybe - questionable decisions by the officials. The teams that best deal with the pressure and best react to something not in the script will be the ones in next week's final."