Henry ignoring Bledisloe Cup hype

New Zealand coach Graham Henry is refusing to get involved in the hype surrounding his first Test match-up against Australia counterpart Robbie Deans, but concedes the former Crusaders coach has the advantage when it comes to coaching under rugby's new laws.

Saturday's opening Bledisloe Cup match has been the most eagerly anticipated clash in the Tri-Nations this year since Henry held on to his New Zealand job despite the fallout from the 2007 World Cup.

Deans, who was overlooked for the position, then announced he would be taking over as head coach of Australia at the conclusion of the Super 14.

The game in Sydney will pit New Zealand's two most successful coaches in the professional era against each other.

This battle of the coaches is the biggest talking point this week overshadowing almost every other aspect of the clash - including whether or not All Blacks captain Richie McCaw will make a quicker than expected recovery from an ankle injury to take to the field against a team coached by his former Crusaders mentor.

Henry and his assistant coaches Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith are, however, playing a very straight bat when it comes to the Deans factor, saying they understand the media and public interest, but they have a job to do which does not involve any personal agendas.

"From our point of view it's no different than preparing for any Test match of this magnitude," said Henry.

"If you start drifting away in things that don't matter in the game and that you can't control you're not doing your job correctly.

"We're just concentrating on making sure that our preparation is correct so we can play the best we can at the weekend."

Smith added: "What could be bigger than winning an All Blacks test as an All Black coach? There's nothing bigger for us."

Henry did admit that Deans had the upper hand where the Experimental Law Variations were concerned after leading the Crusaders to yet another Super 14 title in his final season in charge in Christchurch.

Henry, Hansen and Smith were not involved in the Super 14 and their first real experience of the ELVs came in the opening Tri-Nations match against South Africa at the start of July and Henry acknowledged they were still trying to get up to speed tactically.

"The big change has been the lineout in recent weeks and international sides are still struggling with how to handle that, the difference in numbers," Henry added.

"I know that the three of us are learning about the game again under the ELVs, so I think Robbie has got an advantage in that he's coached under the ELVs for three or four months."

The New Zealand coaching team felt Deans' detailed knowledge of the Crusaders players in their ranks - McCaw, Dan Carter, Andy Ellis, Ali Williams, Brad Thorn and Greg Somerville - would not overly help the Australian cause.

"With analysis the way it is today everyone's got a pretty good idea of where everyone's going to go," said Hansen.

"It's a matter of making sure you go there better than other people will do."

Hansen is wary of Australia, who opened their Tri-Nations campaign with a 16-9 win over world champions South Africa in Perth last weekend.

"Everyone wrote Australia off last week against the South Africans and thought the South Africans would clobber them and they showed that they are a true top international side and I think they won that Test pretty easy," he said.

"We've got to turn up with a great attitude and a huge amount of intensity and purpose and commitment and do what we have to do really well otherwise we will come second."