‘We will not win big events with the current way of playing’ – Sir Graham Henry’s honest admission after All Blacks’ victory over France
Will Jordan scoring for New Zealand against France and All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie.
All Blacks selector and legendary coach Sir Graham Henry admits that Dave Rennie’s side will need vast improvement if they are to be Rugby World Cup challengers next year.
New Zealand enjoyed a positive start under their new head coach, claiming a 34-32 triumph over France at One NZ Stadium in the Nations Championship.
There was plenty to like about their performance in Rennie’s first game in charge, but there is still plenty to work on, especially if they want to compete with the likes of the Springboks.
French depth
Equally, a weakened Les Bleus team, without their Top 14 finalists, showed the talent in their ranks.
Appearing on Sport Nation, Henry was asked about the depth of the French and whether it is going to be a problem for the All Blacks.
“Everybody’s an issue,” was the 80-year-old’s response.
“We’ve just got to improve, haven’t we? We’ve just got to keep on improving what we’re doing and develop our game.
“South Africa are superb obviously and the French are right up there. There are a lot of good sides around the world and they’re stronger now than they used to be, so that’s the challenge and it’s an exciting challenge.
“We will not win big events with the current way of playing, we’ve got a huge improvement that needs to be made if we’re going to be competitive in the big stage.”
Rennie only has just over a year to get his All Blacks side in the best shape possible ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Australia.
The head coach, therefore, has to find the balance between winning Tests and giving players opportunities.
Three rookies were handed their international debuts with Fehi Fineanganofo, Jamie Hannah and Xavier Numia coming off the bench against France, but two more were named in the wider training squad.
New Zealand’s head honcho may therefore look to give Josh Moorby and Anton Segner a chance over the next two weeks ahead of the South Africa tour.
“We’ve got to try and play as many guys as possible, keep people fresh, give people opportunity so they feel really involved and try to win rugby matches, so it’s trying to get that balance right,” Henry said.
“We haven’t got a policy of playing the same 23 week in week out. We just want to play well, and we want to give people opportunity.”
Two All Blacks standouts
Rennie will also want to get a certain amount of continuity over the next few weeks, and two of the players who may remain are Luke Jacobson and Ruben Love.
Henry was impressed with both players as the All Blacks opened their Test season with a victory.
“He (Jacobson) was very special, I thought. He’s a tough man and he’s been through a lot of experiences. He’s captained the Chiefs for a long time, he’s highly respected,” he said.
“I think the public thought he might have been a bit fortunate but on Saturday night he showed why he’s been picked.
“I think he (Love) had a good start, particularly after getting that yellow card – that’s enough to knock you off your vision.
“To get that early, he hasn’t played a lot at five-eighth for the All Blacks, so it was a big challenge for him and to get that yellow card early probably didn’t help, but he had a very good game.”
