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BRAND NEW
When Graham Henry replaced John Mitchell as All Black coach, his job description would have been simple - win the 2007 Rugby World Cup. That an ex-school teacher, who had never played rugby at international level, ever came to be in this position is unusual. How he then planned and successfully executed a four-year campaign to bring home the William Webb Ellis Trophy is fascinating.
In Henry's All Blacks, Graham Henry's cup-winning campaign has been dissected and analysed by a man who knows his rugby, knows the history and more importantly, knows the man. For more than forty years, Murray Deaker has respected G. W. Henry as a friend and colleague, but even that long friendship was challenged in the dark days of doubt leading into the 2007 tournament. Would rotation and conditioning, two of the more controversial aspects of Henry's programme, prove to be our saving grace or sink our chances? We now know the answer, with Murray Deaker's in-depth examination of the defining moment of Henry's career providing a thoughtful and provocative record of a shattering defeat, and the man many now hold to be responsible.
