Henry talks up ‘strong’ Ireland as threat to Grand Slam aspirations

THERE they sat, side by side, two of the game’s most influential people, one a coach who has survived savage criticism in the wake of his team’s World Cup failure, the other an awesome open side wing-forward, set to join the pantheon of the game’s greatest ever number sevens.

Graham Henry invariably looks like your archetypal New Zealander — taciturn, unsmiling, unlikely to say something that might indicate a brighter side to his psyche. But he knows his job better than most and after the World Cup disappointment in France, hung on to the job and celebrated by retaining the Tri-Nations during the summer.

Even then though, they lost matches to both Australia and South Africa, so it would be incorrect to say everything is well between Henry and New Zealand’s fanatical and highly knowledgeable supporters.