Veteran coach Graham Henry says a New Zealand victory over France in Sunday night’s Rugby World Cup final would provide him and his family with “eternal peace”.
The only All Blacks coach ever retained after an unsuccessful World Cup campaign, Henry admits the match will be career-defining, despite a remarkable record of 87 wins from 102 Tests at the helm.
In a delicious twist, the 65-year-old former headmaster can bow out on the highest of highs against the same team that provided his greatest coaching low – the 20-18 World Cup quarter-final defeat four years ago in Cardiff.
Henry gave a telling insight on Friday into the pressure he and his family have lived with since that day.
“I’ve got two boys and a daughter and they were all in Cardiff in 2007,” he said.
“The beating on the Sunday morning of that group of people was a very emotional time – a very emotional time.
“I’ve got a lot of friends in Cardiff and we were around at one of our friend’s places and we were all together and they had their partners as well.
“I’m just hoping that we can get together on Sunday night and things might be a wee bit different.
“My mum’s still alive; she’s 95…and she’ll be delighted when it’s finished, absolutely delighted because she thinks I’m under pressure.
“And my wife will be rejoicing because…when you’re close to the people who are doing the job but you’re not involved, that’s a very difficult situation to be in.
“So the people who are close to you will feel big relief once this World Cup is over.”
Regardless of his great winning strike rate with the All Blacks, plus a successful four-year stint with Wales from 1998-2002 – which included 11 straight victories – Henry accepts that his place in his country’s rugby history all comes down to Sunday’s result.
“It is career-defining, I’m afraid,” said the four-time IRB coach of the year.
“Even though there are a lot of things I am very proud of, this is whether we put the icing on the cake.”
He also knows he’s fortunate enough just to have a second chance.
“When I reapplied in 2007, I thought they would appoint Robbie (Deans) and even in the interview I thought Robbie would get appointed.”
Yet the NZRU retained their faith in Henry, voting 7-1 for him, and Deans headed to Australia to coach the Wallabies.
Henry’s All Blacks ended Deans’ campaign in last weekend’s semi-finals, but his anxiety levels are rising now that his side is one win away from breaking New Zealand’s 24-year wait for a second World Cup.
“I’m starting to feel a bit of pressure now that you’re telling me I should be,” said Henry, who also suffered the despair of narrowly losing the 2001 three-Test series to Australia as the only “foreigner” to have coached the British and Irish Lions.
“Going through this experience before is a real positive, and this is the third World Cup that I’ve been involved in.
“I’m with an extremely talented group of management and that helps immensely.”
Henry is also grateful that a core group of senior players like skipper Richie McCaw, playmaker Dan Carter and 100-Test fullback Mils Muliaina have “taken ownership, taken responsibility” to ease the coaching burden.
The All Blacks have won 45 of 54 matches since the 2007 World Cup and Henry said it was important his players finally validated their long domination of the sport.
“I’ve been with a lot of these guys for a long time and, although they may be ranked the leading team in the world, they’ve never been world champions,” he said.
“It would be just marvellous to have that title because they’ve had every other title that’s going in rugby apart from this one.”
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