KEY POINTS:
A baby is sitting in New Zealand rugby's bath and it would be an act of extreme carelessness if it were thrown out with the water.
As the rest of the world has become aware, hell hath no fury like the New Zealand public scorned. When the nation
is robbed of its moment of global supremacy, its nasty, spiteful side goes on full display.
Where once an All Black coach might have walked with angels, World Cup failure sees him take residence in purgatory - an interminable hell where he will be required for the rest of his life to answer the unanswerable.
But if New Zealand is ever to grasp the World Cup to its breast, the emotion of defeat has to be parked. Blaming referee Wayne Barnes is like the arsonist raging at the shop owner for selling him the matches.
Now is the time for sober and mature reflection. The reign of Graham Henry has to be studied in its entirety, fairly and independently. Not because we need to know where to place him in the pantheon but because there are several strands of his thinking that should be preserved by the next regime.
By learning from the past, a better future can be plotted. Ultimately Henry was charged with winning the World Cup and he failed. He never delivered the end so does that make it impossible to justify his means?
For the good of New Zealand rugby, the answer has to be no. The next man at the helm has to be prepared to replicate some of Henry's methods and adapt others. A few should be ditched, like the bloated support staff and the obsession with statistics and sports science.
And the very fact there needs to be a next man has to be the first priority for the New Zealand Rugby Union.
"I'm pretty comfortable at 61," was Henry's initial and most telling reply when asked about what his future holds. It was an indication he had always accepted that success or failure at the World Cup would not determine his thinking. After four years in the job, it would be time for the players to hear a new voice.
Given the obvious respect Henry has for his assistant, Steve Hansen, the current coach would like to be succeeded by his sidekick.
That, however, would present numerous concerns. Hansen is ingrained in the Henry way and it is only right to question how much he would be able to advance, adapt and evolve his current thinking.
Would he be able to accept the need for dramatic change in some aspects of his planning? Given the hands-on nature of his existing role, would the forwards in particular feel, if Hansen is elevated, that they are stuck in the past?
These are valid concerns, as is the view of former NZRU chief executive David Moffett that change is also required in the administration.
The NZRU board agreed earlier this year to delay any decision or discussion about the future of the All Black coaching panel until after the World Cup. They put that off because they felt, regardless of outcome, there had to be a comprehensive review. The All Black coach had to be accountable.
In an entirely contradictory move, some months ago the board endorsed the promotion of deputy chief executive Steve Tew to take over from the retiring Chris Moller. The job wasn't put to tender and now the board is in a pickle for Tew has already said he won't be held accountable in the findings of the coaching review.
The review might conclude that an administrator with such close links to the Henry regime can't be considered the best man to lead the organisation in 2008.
Earlier this year, Hansen claimed Tew was the best rugby administrator in the world. The two men are close - having worked as coach and chief executive at Canterbury.
The Herald on Sunday also understands that All Black manager Darren Shand recently had his contract extended for two years, a decision to which Tew would no doubt have been privy.
Its easy to see then, why Moffett says alarm bells should be ringing. Robbie Deans is clearly the lead challenger outside the current All Black mix to take over from Henry. It is no secret that Deans and Hansen are not chums and, according to rugby gossips in Christchurch, Deans isn't bulging with admiration for Shand.
Whoever is charged with conducting the coaching review has to question the logic of extending Shand's contract before the World Cup. They also need to question whether the board felt it was sound governance to promote Tew before the World Cup.
These are vital questions not on a personal level but on a corporate level.
As deputy chief executive during Henry's time, Tew was across all the All Blacks did. He was part of an executive team that signed off on Henry's rotation policies and on the reconditioning window strategies designed to help the All Blacks win the World Cup - and yet he is seemingly immune from any of the fall-out.
Which takes us full circle - a reminder that now is the time for objectivity and independence.
Henry was right to see player welfare as a legitimate issue. He came up with a plan to manage the increasing workload of the players in a sport whose physicality continues along a steep curve. He predominantly used end-of-season tours as a vehicle to introduce raw talent and he was astute at assessing in which Tri Nations tests he could leave out the big names.
His big picture thinking was sound. Up for debate is the detail of the management. Could, for instance, the likes of Daniel Carter, Richie McCaw and Carl Hayman have made late entrances to Super 14 each year?
Maybe All Blacks should have been granted an extra month to rest and recondition, missed the first three games and rejoined their Super rugby squads in early March. That would have been less disruptive than having them miss several tests each season.
Again, no one sane should argue against the logic of imposing an extended conditioning window but Henry was guilty of over-estimating how quickly players could discover their match sharpness. It was apparent too many key players lacked match fitness at this World Cup - that, for all their athletic brilliance, they were not at their best as rugby players.
Maybe Henry got caught up in the sports science of it all; burying his gut instincts under a mountain of GPS results and gym statistics. It is possible, too, he failed to realise how many chefs ended up working the All Black broth.
The All Black party bloated to 57 at the World Cup - that's a lot of input, a lot of people having to come up with ways to justify their existence.
Meanwhile, the obsession with winning the World Cup has to end. Too much was sacrificed in the pursuit of glory. The pressure on the players in 2011, in front of their own people, will be immense. The All Blacks are in danger of being consumed by their own angst.
The new coach has to be charged with simply winning tests. Strategies have to be put down to conquer fatigue and build depth but they have to be done with the immediate and not distant future in mind.
If reconditioning a player in February is deemed the best way to win six tests in July and August, then go ahead.
Test rugby is an entity in itself, not a distraction between World Cups. These are the words that should be written on Deans' contract when the board agree before Christmas he is the best man for the job.
