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Henry feels for Deans

Friday 25th July 2008

Henry: Happy not to be in Deans' shoes

New Zealand Head Coach Graham Henry can sympathise with an "emotional" Robbie Deans and says there are few tougher jobs than that his opponent faces on Saturday at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

Henry, reluctant earlier this week to discuss his coaching dual with Deans leading up to the Bledisloe Cup opener, was more forthcoming on the eve before the Test match with some observations as the rain pelted down outside at ANZ Stadium.

The two Kiwi coaches will go head-to-head for the first time in a Test match when Deans' Australia take on Henry's New Zealand in the Tri-Nations blockbuster.

The clash has been spiced up considerably by the presence of the two New Zealanders, particularly as they were both contenders for the All Blacks job after last year's World Cup letdown, before Henry was reappointed.

The well-travelled Henry coached Wales and the British and Irish Lions, but never against New Zealand.

"I'd imagine it's not an easy job to coach a team against your own country. I coached Wales for a while and we didn't play the All Blacks in that time which was a wee bit surprising," Henry told NZPA.

"I can understand that emotion and it'll be interesting how he handles it. It'll be good to be able to talk to him about it afterwards.

"For me it doesn't change, it's another huge game against Australia."

Henry, though, denied he was under more pressure because Deans had challenged him for his job last year.

"I think every Test match of this magnitude ... is a huge game and once they're over the next one's a huge game," he said.

"It's no different. We played the Springboks two weeks ago in Dunedin and that was a major Test match and I was pretty nervous before that one and I'm nervous before this one.

"There's obviously a wee bit more interest for the media and the public because Robbie's coaching Australia ... and that's great for the game and great for the edge of the game.

"But from my point of view it's not personal, it's about trying to help this team play a top quality game of football that's good enough to win."

Henry admitted he had gone down the path of polling the Crusaders players in the All Blacks on Deans' coaching methods.

Deans coached the Crusaders until the end of this year's Super 14 competition, taking them to five titles during his nine-year reign.

Asked at the All Blacks' only Australian press conference whether he had discussed Deans' likely thought patterns with his Crusaders players, Henry said: "That's a good idea. Obviously we go down those paths."

"I'm sure they're highly motivated," Henry added.

"Respect drives competition, doesn't it, and I'm sure the respect is mutual between the players who played for the Crusaders and Robbie.

"When you respect somebody I think that brings out an extra edge and I'm sure they'll play with edge tomorrow (Saturday) night."

With about 80,000 people expected at the 83,000-capacity stadium in the first Bledisloe Cup test of the year, Henry admitted the prize was more sought-after than the Tri-Nations trophy.

The All Blacks have held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003, but this year's it's being played over a record four tests including Hong Kong on November 1.

"That makes it a greater contest and more even contest for the challenger - it's good for the competition," said Henry.

"Because of the history of the Bledisloe Cup and closeness of the teams geographically, and the banter between the two countries it has greater magnitude.

"Australia are playing pretty well, they're playing differently and that's to be expected, a different style.

"We played Australia in Melbourne last year and got beaten, it wasn't that long ago."