Henry makes changes to counter ‘very skilful Irish side’

ALL BLACK coach Graham Henry yesterday reiterated his opinion that Ireland are the best team in Europe.

Henry explained that the three changes from the side which beat the Irish 34-23 in Hamilton for Saturday’s second test at Eden Park were to combat a “very competitive, very skilful Irish side”.

Henry said: “You can take what you want from the formation of the team for this weekend. We’re continuing to experiment, continuing with our plan to give game time to certain players but, yes, we considered changes in areas where we didn’t do so well last week.”

Troy Flavell comes into the second row to compete with what Henry called “a very formidable lineout”. Flavell, a try scorer last week, is named instead of Greg Rowlinson, Jerome Kaino replaces Marty Holah, while Casey Laulala comes in for Ma’a Nonu in the centre.

Henry admitted that he is using these outings as a means to find the perfect combination for the Tri-Nations tournament.

“But”, he stressed, “that is not any disrespect to Ireland. They’re a very good quality side, probably the best in the northern hemisphere at the moment. Neither are they a two-man team — Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell.

“They have a lot of high quality players, and they play well as a team. They’re very determined, very aggressive, and they could so easily have beaten us last week. It was a very close run encounter.”

He added: “We had another look at the crucial Six Nations game between France and Ireland again during the week, and I felt Ireland deserved to win an amazing match. They came back from the dead, showed what they could do and played a very fine brand of rugby. That second-half comeback deserved a win, and I think they deserved to win the Six Nations based on all of their performances.”

Henry paid tribute to Ireland by retaining Chris Jack in the second row.

He pointed out: “While we are experimenting, trying to give guys game time at this level, we wouldn’t be silly enough to leave a player of his calibre out. We’re looking beyond this game, but we want to win it, and we need to mix things and play a few oldies with the youngsters that we believe can bring New Zealand rugby on to a new era. If anything, I think it is a sign of respect to an Irish side that’s proved itself over the last couple of years,” he said.

Henry added that Ireland now had a huge amount of respect worldwide.

“These guys have been around the block; they have world class players in their midst, and we are quite aware that they’re not going to want to leave New Zealand without a win. Nine of these guys were involved with the Lions, all of them involved in Ireland’s Triple Crown win and goodness knows how many played with Munster throughout their European Cup campaign.

“They’re used to winning, and from their reaction last week they’re not quite prepared to accept losing by a narrow margin.

“I find it amusing to hear from some sources in New Zealand that we should be able to beat an Irish team by 40 or 50 points. The supporters don’t really get the drift. Ireland have achieved a lot, and they want to achieve a lot more. They’ve got the players to do it too,” he said.

“I admire the way they came out fighting, admire the way they have set about the task. It’s a difficult one, because we are who we are, but there can be no room for creating false illusions for ourselves.”

Assistant coach Steve Hansen, who has had the most recent benefit of studying this Irish side, admitted that it should be a tough match.

“I think I know how we should go about in attempting to beat them, but there will be many important issues. When you look at this current Irish side, what you see is not necessarily what you get. They’re a lot more capable of changing the game plan, and they tend to do that very well,” he said.

The All Blacks have made two changes in the reserves, with flanker Craig Newby given an opportunity, and Andrew Hore coming in.