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Toby Robson, the smart and informed rugby writer for The Dominion Post, Wellington’s main newspaper, has come up with a corker of a scoop for his newspaper which was headlined: ‘Henry May Sit In The Pumas Box For ABs Test’.
The headline gives the flavour of the story. According to Robson, Henry is not ruling out the possibility of sitting in the visitors’ coaches box at the Westpac Stadium on Saturday night when the All Blacks play their home match against the Pumas.
Henry told Robson in what seems to have been an exclusive interview (the New Zealand Herald did not carry the story yesterday) that he is donning the Argentinian jersey at training for “this week and the next two games against Australia and New Zealand, as I have done for the previous three weeks.”
And would he be sitting in the coaches box? “I don’t know. It hasn’t been discussed.”
But he admitted the only reason why he hadn’t sat in the coaches’ box for The Rugby Championship matches against the Springboks was “because of other commitments.”
The Dominion Post rather mischievously ran a cartoon of Henry wearing the blue and white colours of the Pumas and scowling with his trademark upside down lemon grimace.
Earlier in the season Henry was contracted by the New Zealand Rugby Union to help the Pumas with their preparation for The Rugby Championship.
This help was part of the agreement with Argentina coming into the tournament.
It was accepted at that time that Henry wouldn’t actually help in the specific preparation of the Pumas, especially in the Tests against the All Blacks.
Henry explained at the time that he was overseeing the structure of the Argentinian coaching system and giving generalised advice to the Pumas.
And the main advice was that the team had to more positive in their play and concentrate on trying to score tries rather than penalties.
In a follow-up interview with Robson, Steve Tew, the CEO of the New Zealand Rugby Union, confirmed that Henry was no longer on contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union after becoming an assistant coach of the Auckland Blues.
As a free agent Henry is not constrained by intellectual property commitments to the New Zealand Rugby Union: “He can make his own calls,” Tew admitted ruefully.
Tew insisted that what Henry knew about the 2012 version of the All Blacks was already “stale”.
However, he didn’t really answer Robson’s question when it was put to him: “So are the New Zealand Rugby Union uncomfortable with Henry’s expanded role this weekend?”
He would be worried, as many others in New Zealand are, that Henry has a great deal of knowledge (which he was instrumental in creating) of the inner workings of the All Blacks and their tactics in specific moments in a tight game.
This brings us back to the case of Robbie Deans and the Wallabies and the nonsense raised by many people in the Australian rugby community that a New Zealander and an All Black to boot doesn’t have his heart in coaching a side to beat the All Blacks.
Last Saturday I aroused a hornet’s nest of emails, blogs and comments when I wrote about this in the Sydney Morning Herald and suggested that in the professional era of rugby “career trumps nationality“.
The action of Henry suggests that this was a correct response to some xenophobic rantings from Australian Birthers against Deans.
Does any one believe that Henry is an All Blacks stalking horse in the Pumas camp? Yet we have had people on The Roar and other websites making this very same argument about Deans and the Wallabies.
As I pointed out in the SMH, the All Blacks have lost only 10 Tests since 2008 and three of those losses were inflicted by the Deans-coached Wallabies.
Last season, too, the Wallabies won the Tri Nations tournament for the first time in a decade. This is hardly stalking horse behaviour.
I might add that Henry’s contribution to the Pumas cause has coincided with a lacklustre defeat in South Africa which was followed by a 16-16 draw which the Pumas had much the better of play against the Springboks.
The fact is that for decades, New Zealand coaches in particular but increasingly coaches from other countries have been helping national sides from places other than their birth countries.
The Warbrick brothers from New Zealand were early influential coaches in Australia in the 1900s, for instance.
Chris Laidlaw, a super All Blacks halfback in the 1960s, almost coached Fiji to an upset victory over the All Blacks in Suva when he was a young New Zealand diplomat there.
Like all the others to come of his ilk, there was nothing of the stalking horse there.
Three New Zealanders have coached Wales in recent years: Henry, Steve Hansen and now Warren Gatland.
In 2007 we had the unforgettable sight of Eddie Jones, a former Wallaby coach, working with the Springboks during their successful 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign.
As the Springboks progressed through the tournament, it was noticeable that Jones was emboldened to wear more and more Springboks gear. By the end of the tournament he was a fully outfitted member of the Springboks camp.
Jones now coaches Japan. Does anyone believe that when Japan plays the Wallabies that Jones will tell his players to hold back?
By way of reciprocation with Jones, I would guess Jake White, the successful Springbok coach in Rugby World Cup 2007, was asked by the ARU to come down to Melbourne before the Australia – Wales Test to review the coaching systems that were in place.
Apparently, White was happy with the coaching systems and structures Deans had arranged.
My guess is that Henry will actually bring a lot to the Pumas camp, just as Deans has brought a lot to the Wallabies. And for the same reason.
Both are successful and smart coaches whose presence enhances the performance of any group of players they happen to be involved with.
When Henry sits with his fellow coaches on Saturday night – as with Deans in a similar circumstance when the Wallabies play the All Blacks – he won’t be coaching so much against the All Blacks but more for the Pumas.
And that is the long and short of the matter.