It was a strange sight to behold on Tuesday: Former All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry in a Pumas tracksuit, helping the visitors prepare for Saturday's Test in Wellington.
If there were any doubts as to the extent of Henry's role with the Argentinean national side, they disappeared when he was at the centre of the Pumas training session in the build up to their third Rugby Championship clash at Westpac stadium.
The World Cup-winning coach has made it clear he will do "all he can" to assist Argentina in their quest to claim their first win over New Zealand.
"You can't misrepresent the role. I'm with the Argentinian side this week and next week and the two games (in Argentina) against Australia and New Zealand, as I have been for the previous three weeks," Henry told Fairfax NZ News.
"Helping with the high performance department and development of rugby is one role and the other is helping the national coaches in the role of coaching the Argentinian side."
Henry added that there was a chance he would sit in the Argentine coaches box on Saturday, but he doesn't expect any negative reaction from his countrymen.
"I think the New Zealand public are delighted one of the lesser lights of world rugby are getting some assistance," he said.
"I think it's different to helping coach one of the teams that's traditionally in the top echelon, like England or Australia or South Africa."
The All Blacks don't seem to have any no qualms with their former mentor helping out their opposition either.
Veteran scrum-half Piri Weepu accepted that Henry would have given the Pumas a few insights, but wasn't worried about with the impact his involvement would have on the tourists' performance.
"I guess he (Sir Graham) probably would have just told them what we are going to bring the table," Weepu told reporters in Wellington on Tuesday.
"We haven't spoken about it. We are just trying to focus on what they have to offer and work on that and make sure we come to the table with good preparation and we are ready to go on Saturday.
"This year is going to be a huge learning curve for them playing in a competition like this, so I guess they are just going to keep on playing like they have been over the years and make improvements on that.
"We already know what they are going to bring and I guess we just have to make sure we don't get fooled by what they offer us in terms of how they are going to defend and what they are going to do on attack. I guess we try and counter what we have seen so far and improve on what we have done so far.
"You can't really take them for granted. We know what they're capable of, they've proven over the past World Cup campaigns that they can match it with any team in the competition so for them to come out this Saturday, they'll definitely be proving that point.
"We've had five games so far and we've done really well, but these next two games are going to be a big test for us and we just have to make sure we go on from our last two games and improve on them and making sure that everyone ticks the boxes."
Comments
bothhands says...
"top echelon, like England or Australia or South Africa" - since when does Henry consider england a top-echelon side? And since when is he 'sir'? Dude, you have let the All Blacks down in allowing your All Brown upper lip stick to your nose. Whose sir are you?
Posted 22:18 04th September 2012
ruckingkiwi says...
makemehappy, what's your point sorry? You say they should be there but shouldn't be there... and what's infringing at the breakdown got to do with improving its infrastructure?
Goes both ways JayStarr, they will be out of their comfort zone as well.
One advantage the Argentinians have is Henry to help with the small details of the travel, NZ etc and also the fact they play all their home games 2nd, which means they can that awe-factor and first time nerves out of the way in the away games they aren't expecting to win anyway.
Posted 21:26 04th September 2012
atg77 says...
@makemehappy, Its simply that Argenita had a generation of uniquely talented players who have now retired and no players have stepped up to replace them. Their current level of rugby is suffering for that reason, not due to any mishaps in the administration of the game. I have to agree that they are out of their depth and always will be in the rugby championship, but they are the ones after all who so despararely wanted to play there.
Posted 20:54 04th September 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
What a treacherous turncoat! Just kidding. Respect! He's a brave honerable man.
IF... If Pumas win I will expect AB fans to respect the contribution SirG has made to the competition and to Argie rugby. SirG would be the smuggest wee kitten in coaching history and how many of us would have to eat our words about him being not quite up there with Hansen Smith and Gats. I so want to see that discussion on this site.
Posted 19:50 04th September 2012
makemehappy says...
I think its a real shame that the Argentina are now in this competition. They should have been several years ago, but they aren't up to this level of rugby, will be murdered by the AB's (unless the weather or ref is awful) and I'm not aware of the country improving its infrastructure sufficiently to have a path to the top of the professional rugby world.
In the last game against Wales for example, they were a shocking embarassment to the game of rugby. A chronic infringement at every breakdown which simply is not good for the game!
Posted 18:30 04th September 2012
JayStarr says...
It shouldn't be undersestimated how big a role FAMILIARITY plays in the games between NZ, AUS and SA. The players play against each other year after year in Super Rugby and Tri-nations... They know each other as well as players in NZ and SA's domestic competitions know each other...
Argentina's approach might be "known", but what it is like playing against them - and the unique challenges posed by the individual players - is something very foreign to most of the current crop of players (and coaches) in NZ, AUS and SA...
Yes, Argentina figured out the Springboks' predictable approach, but do not underestimate how much the actual unfamiliar situation, style of play and approach had to do with that draw... They got under the Boks' skins and challenged them in ways which they did not expect. The fact that they were so different from NZ and AUS played as much a part in that result as anything else. If Argentina wasn't so overwhelmed by the historic occassion the week before, that scoreline wouldn't have been so flattering.
Moral of the story: no matter how well NZ or AUS prepare, they are going to find themselves out of their comfort zones against Argentina.
The question is: how will they respond?
Posted 17:24 04th September 2012
5Lock4ward says...
I'm so happy Los Pumas are involved in this tournament now. I don't really care for GH calling them "one of the lesser lights of world rugby" though. They were 3rd at RWC '07 and none of the NH nations can ever be too confident of a victory when they step on the pitch against them. Anyway GH will teach them a lot and for all we know that crafty old man could be worming his way into their head coaching role as we speak.
Posted 14:00 04th September 2012
Paco says...
I am looking forward to a very tough and interesting game on saturday!
The All Blacks have the bigger chances to win, obviously, but I am sure the Pumas are going to put everything they have on the field to level those chances. Anyway they will use this experience to learn and to improve towards the following games. So I would expect them to get better and better from game to game. This guys learn very fast!
Posted 12:24 04th September 2012