Henry forced to back down on All Blacks Super 14 pullout

Graham Henry

All Blacks coach Graham Henry wanted the bulk of the test squad exempt from the entire Super 14 next year.

But a compromise has been reached whereby they will join the competition from round eight in late March, as part of a plan to have them peak for the start of the World Cup in September.

Full Super 14 contracts will be given to about 22 players to cover their absences. The New Zealand Rugby Union and the Players' Association will share the costs of about $1,450,000 for those players.

Henry's bottom line is doing what he believes is in the best interests of ending a 20-year World Cup drought for the All Blacks. That means leading players having a maximum of 15 games next year before arriving in France: between six and eight Super 14 games, three early-season tests and four Tri-Nations matches in what is expected to be a truncated competition.

"This is a major strategy to try and achieve the ultimate which we haven't done for 20-odd years," Henry said yesterday. "We've done things over the last 20 years and haven't been successful. We've had to change things and this is one of the major strategies to make sure the guys are physically, emotionally and mentally at their peak to play the World Cup."

Henry reckoned even that amount of leadup rugby is too much.

"The ideal situation was for them to take the whole Super 14 off, in my opinion. But that wasn't going to fly so we compromised."

Henry's insight was sharpened by seeing what he called "a lot of very jaded players" after this year's Super 14. He believes the players will still have "ample" big match rugby ahead of the World Cup. Told that England captain Martin Johnson had played about 42 games in 2003 before leading his country to glory in the final in Sydney, Henry reckoned: "Whether he played 142 games is immaterial to me. This is what is best for us."

No names were mentioned for the break, but Henry said it would be the nucleus of the test squad. Those likely to be excluded were players such as Conrad Smith, Nick Evans, James Ryan and Sione Lauaki, who have had significant time off for injuries and will benefit from match play.

The 22 - an approximate number - will have individual programmes overseen by All Black strength and conditioning coach Graham Lowe and the group will meet periodically during the 12-week period.

New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Chris Moller believes Australia and South Africa are likely to use a similar strategy. New Zealand's Super 14 coaches, with sponsors, the players' association, franchises and Sky TV, have been involved in the planning. Franchises will be compensated for loss of revenue, but Moller would not elaborate how.

The risk that losing key players could translate into jeopardising coaches' jobs, won't be ignored. Moller said that would be taken into account at review time.

The positive to come out of the move was the opportunity it would offer to new players to showcase their talents on the stage immediately below test level, he said.

"Sure there are some negatives in the first seven rounds, but we've got to balance that with the positives," he added. He acknowledged it would be expensive for the NZRU, "but trying to do our best at the World Cup doesn't come cheap".

Henry insisted there will be no exceptions for any of the sit-outs who wanted to play in those seven rounds.

This season, several players had turned out for their Air New Zealand Cup or club teams, despite having been flagged to take those weekends off. "No, none at all," Henry said, adding that the domestic Air New Zealand Cup, which will start about a month before the World Cup is almost certainly a "no-go" zone.

"We would be disappointed if they didn't want to play, but they have agreed this is the best strategy."

The master plan

* About 22 leading All Blacks will be removed from the first seven rounds of next year's Super 14.

* They will undergo conditioning programmes to prepare long term for the World Cup, which starts in France in September.

* The New Zealand Rugby Union and the Players Association will share the costs of about $1,450,000 in wages to replacement players, who will be on full Super 14 contracts.

* All Blacks will have no more than 15 games of Super 14 or test rugby before the World Cup, although coach Graham Henry wanted them exempt from the entire Super 14.

* Super 14 coaches shorn of leading players will have that taken into account in the end-of-season reviews.