OMEN
11-15-2007, 09:01 AM
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UPHILL BATTLE: The All Blacks coaching panel, headed by Graham Henry, have a big job ahead to convince the NZRU to reappoint them after the All Blacks' worst World Cup ever.
Graham Henry will have to fight to keep his All Blacks coaching job after the New Zealand Rugby Union decided the position would be contestable, meaning Robbie Deans will have a shot at the coveted role.
New Zealand Rugby Union board member Mike Eagle, who chaired the union's review of the World Cup disaster in Wellington yesterday, announced that the job would be up for grabs for 2008.
He fronted a press conference in Wellington this evening after the NZRU board met earlier in the day to go over the review committee's findings after Henry and his assistants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen and fourth selector Sir Brian Lochore presented their defence on Wednesday.
Henry hasn't declared whether he will reapply for the job but this decision is clearly a major setback to his hopes.
He said he would take time now to consider his future.
"All three of us will take time to think about the next steps and we'll have a decision on the 26th," said Henry.
He has been in a bullish mood following New Zealand's worst World Cup performance where his team were eliminated in the quarter-finals for the first time, losing 18-20 to France in Cardiff.
Deans, the Crusaders coach, has already announced that he is interested in the job.
Applications must be submitted by November 26 with the NZRU still hopeful of naming their new coach by Christmas.
But the NZRU stressed they wouldn't be compromised by that deadline though and if the process needed further time, that would be granted.
All potential candidates would be contacted, given the tight timeframe.
But it is hard to see any New Zealander more qualified than Deans to have a tilt at the position and take on Henry. Deans, a former All Blacks assistant coach in 2002 and 2003, has had a hugely impressive stint with the Crusaders in Super rugby.
The main interest now will be to see if Henry and/or his assistants have another crack.
Their plan always seemed to be to have Hansen as next in line.
But that plan went horribly wrong when the All Blacks suffered their shock loss.
On the back of a reported $50m campaign where Henry had all of his preparation wishes granted, failure was obviously going to place huge pressure on their hopes of continuing in the role.
Sensibly the NZRU have decided that there should be a contest for the biggest job in the country.
It was suggested that Henry and his sidekicks had based much of their defence around the inept performance by English referee Wayne Barnes in Cardiff.
Barnes failed to penalise the under-pressure French during the second half of the quarter-final despite massive pressure on their line from the All Blacks. He also failed to call back a forward pass that led to a crucial French try and his sin-binning of All Black Luke McAlister was openly questioned.
But this was never going to be a satisfactory excuse after Henry's controversial reconditioning and rotation policies failed to have his side firing for the World Cup after they had completely dominated world rugby during 2005 and 2006.
Henry staunchly defended his methods, claiming he would do little different and had few regrets with the preparation of his side.
But after playing in a weak World Cup pool the All Blacks clearly appeared underdone for the tough challenge that the French presented. They also collapsed mentally at another World Cup despite much work being put into this side of the All Blacks' game.
Eagle described the review as full, frank and fair.
"Notwithstanding the disappointment of losing at the quarter-final stage of Rugby World Cup 2007, the board concluded that the coaches' performances in 2007 were very positive, as they had been throughout the term of their appointment," said Eagle.
He pointed to Henry's impressive record of 42 wins from 48 matches in four years and an unbeaten run at home.
NZPA
UPHILL BATTLE: The All Blacks coaching panel, headed by Graham Henry, have a big job ahead to convince the NZRU to reappoint them after the All Blacks' worst World Cup ever.
Graham Henry will have to fight to keep his All Blacks coaching job after the New Zealand Rugby Union decided the position would be contestable, meaning Robbie Deans will have a shot at the coveted role.
New Zealand Rugby Union board member Mike Eagle, who chaired the union's review of the World Cup disaster in Wellington yesterday, announced that the job would be up for grabs for 2008.
He fronted a press conference in Wellington this evening after the NZRU board met earlier in the day to go over the review committee's findings after Henry and his assistants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen and fourth selector Sir Brian Lochore presented their defence on Wednesday.
Henry hasn't declared whether he will reapply for the job but this decision is clearly a major setback to his hopes.
He said he would take time now to consider his future.
"All three of us will take time to think about the next steps and we'll have a decision on the 26th," said Henry.
He has been in a bullish mood following New Zealand's worst World Cup performance where his team were eliminated in the quarter-finals for the first time, losing 18-20 to France in Cardiff.
Deans, the Crusaders coach, has already announced that he is interested in the job.
Applications must be submitted by November 26 with the NZRU still hopeful of naming their new coach by Christmas.
But the NZRU stressed they wouldn't be compromised by that deadline though and if the process needed further time, that would be granted.
All potential candidates would be contacted, given the tight timeframe.
But it is hard to see any New Zealander more qualified than Deans to have a tilt at the position and take on Henry. Deans, a former All Blacks assistant coach in 2002 and 2003, has had a hugely impressive stint with the Crusaders in Super rugby.
The main interest now will be to see if Henry and/or his assistants have another crack.
Their plan always seemed to be to have Hansen as next in line.
But that plan went horribly wrong when the All Blacks suffered their shock loss.
On the back of a reported $50m campaign where Henry had all of his preparation wishes granted, failure was obviously going to place huge pressure on their hopes of continuing in the role.
Sensibly the NZRU have decided that there should be a contest for the biggest job in the country.
It was suggested that Henry and his sidekicks had based much of their defence around the inept performance by English referee Wayne Barnes in Cardiff.
Barnes failed to penalise the under-pressure French during the second half of the quarter-final despite massive pressure on their line from the All Blacks. He also failed to call back a forward pass that led to a crucial French try and his sin-binning of All Black Luke McAlister was openly questioned.
But this was never going to be a satisfactory excuse after Henry's controversial reconditioning and rotation policies failed to have his side firing for the World Cup after they had completely dominated world rugby during 2005 and 2006.
Henry staunchly defended his methods, claiming he would do little different and had few regrets with the preparation of his side.
But after playing in a weak World Cup pool the All Blacks clearly appeared underdone for the tough challenge that the French presented. They also collapsed mentally at another World Cup despite much work being put into this side of the All Blacks' game.
Eagle described the review as full, frank and fair.
"Notwithstanding the disappointment of losing at the quarter-final stage of Rugby World Cup 2007, the board concluded that the coaches' performances in 2007 were very positive, as they had been throughout the term of their appointment," said Eagle.
He pointed to Henry's impressive record of 42 wins from 48 matches in four years and an unbeaten run at home.
NZPA