NZ coach getting on with it
New Zealand's back-line co-ordinator Wayne Smith has spent long enough as an All Blacks player and coach to realise a Test rugby win over Ireland does not wipe the slate clean.
New Zealand's back-line co-ordinator Wayne Smith has spent long enough as an All Blacks player and coach to realise a Test rugby win over Ireland does not wipe the slate clean.
The former Head Coach of the All Blacks made no attempt to portray the win in Wellington last week as even scant consolation for failure at the 2007 World Cup – and neither would success against the tournament's runners-up at Eden Park on Saturday nor Christchurch a week later.
Smith's realism follows senior lock Ali Williams' aggressive defence of the coaching panel as the inquest into the All Blacks' quarter-final demise approaches its ninth month.
Williams took aim at English referee Wayne Barnes while appealing for New Zealand rugby fans to move on and support the team and reinstated Head Coach Graham Henry.
“You have freedom of speech, I have no problem with that and everyone can say what they want to say,” Williams told Radio Sport.
“But the guy got the job and he's got the same people. Either support rugby or don't support rugby and if you support it, well get behind us.”
Williams was riled at how Henry was singled out for condemnation, saying the players were also responsible for the loss to France before breaking with convention to castigate Barnes.
“You have to look at the ref. Seventeen unawarded penalties – that's bull****,” he said, referring to an analysis of the second half.
Smith said he was unaware of Williams' comments but reminded the rugby public that the management team and players shared their despair.
“I'll always have a hole in my gut and that will never go away but I've got on with my life and can separate myself from it now,” Smith told NZPA.
“It's a bit different for players because they get a chance to put it right week after week. They've had their Super 14 campaigns, they've been re-selected. I think they're well over it, most of them.”
Anti-Henry sentiment was rife in the lead up to the Irish Test and Smith said it was difficult to gauge whether the criticism had softened.
“I don't really know,” he said.
“Normally the good buggers come up to shake your hand, thank you for doing a good job and get on with it. Very few people come up and actually berate you.”
Smith was acutely aware a rare failure against England would set back the healing process and although the tourists have also undergone massive personnel changes since the World Cup final, the All Blacks were staying circumspect.
England have retained only one player from the starting line-up that lost to South Africa in Paris last October, while only four are backing up from their Six Nations finale against Ireland.
While much has been made of the Andy Sheridan-led pack, Smith said the English back division could not be underestimated.
“Having worked in the UK (as coach of Northampton for two seasons), there's a bit of a fallacy that they can't pass the ball and they can't play attacking rugby, which is bull****,” he warned.
“One thing I noticed through the Six Nations, particularly against Ireland, was they were very accurate.
“They don't throw the ball around willy-nilly when they do stuff.”
Only scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth remains from the backline that started against Ireland in March but Smith insisted the systems had already been put in place for the replacements to follow.
However, there was no escaping the fact England are fielding their third choice pivot in Charlie Hodgson and even Smith struggled to talk up a back three with just seven caps between them including debutant wing Topsy Ojo.