Henry: 'My toughest challenge yet'
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:59
Talking tough: Graham Henry talks about the 3N opener
All Black coach Graham Henry, who has been talking up the Springboks all week, has now described Saturday's opening Tri-Nations Test between New Zealand and South Africa as "the toughest challenge" of his five years in charge of the national team.
The Kiwis and Boks will go head-to-head in one of the most eagerly anticipated Test matches in recent memory - the World Cup champions, South Africa, putting up their No.1 ranking on the International Rugby Board (IRB) standings against the team they dethroned after winning last year's World Cup in France.
The Kiwis have made it clear that they can't take away the Webb Ellis Cup from the Boks, at least not till 2011, but they can reclaim their standing as the world's most consistent team - which is what top spot on the IRB rankings is.
And Henry has not held back in talking up Saturday's showdown at the Westpac Stadium.
"I think it's a massive challenge, maybe the biggest challenge this group of people have faced in the five years that we've been together," Henry told NZPA.
"It'll maybe bring the best out of us and we're hoping to give them a decent sort of game... I don't think you're going to get a bigger Test match for the All Blacks."
The importance placed on the game is emphasised by the selection of lock Ali Williams even though he is a day-to-day proposition to play his 50th Test after suffering a sprained ankle against England in Christchurch.
Assistant coach Steve Hansen said two-Test lock Anthony Boric was ready to be slotted alongside Brad Thorn if world class forward Williams can't prove he is ready.
"I wouldn't say he's 100 percent but he's working his way towards that," Hansen said.
"He's pretty confident that he's going to be right.
"He'll train for a limited amount of time tomorrow and we'll build on that on Thursday.
"Any Test match, when you've a guy who's your chief line-out forward and he's played 50 Test matches, it's important to have him."
Saturday's Test will also see the introduction of two more Experimental Law Variations (ELVs).
Teams are entitled to put any number of players into the line-out and mauls can now be legally collapsed.
Both sides voiced concern about safety aspects of the maul change and uncertainty about the potential impact of both rules.
Henry agreed it was unfortunate that such radical changes would debut in a major match.
"It's the unknown... nobody's played them before," Henry said.
"I can't really answer the question [of impact] until we go through the process and play the game and have a number of games with these particular laws."
Henry said the line-out law was particularly significant and threatened to create farcical scenes.
"It's going to be interesting isn't it? They could have 15 players in to our three [in the line-out]," he said.
"I think they were brought in to help the referee, they don't have to count the numbers in the line-out, which has always been a frustration.
"Whether it has a positive effect on the game, we'll have to wait and see."
