Graham Henry's revolution

The Reign Of King Henry, Exisle Publishing, paints Henry as a revolutionary. Photo / Dean Purcell

There are plenty of people across New Zealand's extended rugby fraternity who, hand on heart, don't really like All Black coach Graham Henry.

There is, however, barely a soul on these islands who doesn't respect him. Even those whom he wronged in his earlier career when he could be brusque, acerbic and inappropriately sarcastic can see past the sometimes clumsy interpersonal skills and agree that great leaders don't have to win popularity contests.

Henry, after all, is not paid to make friends. His job is to deliver results and since taking over from John Mitchell in December 2003, Henry has fulfilled the core component of his brief.

In 39 tests under Henry (before this morning's encounter in South Africa) the All Blacks have won 35. That's a win ratio of almost 90 per cent - easily the highest of any international coach in the professional era.

But his reign has been far more significant than just winning more tests than his predecessors. History will have failed to accurately evaluate Henry's contribution and his ability as a leader if the focus is confined merely to statistics.

New Zealanders have a predilection for judging All Black coaches solely on their results at the World Cup.

But whatever happens in October, Henry deserves to walk away from the job with an appropriate level of recognition. His methods shouldn't be considered flawed if they don't yield a a silver mug for this indisputable reason: the All Blacks in 2007 are far better equipped for success than the All Blacks of 1999 and 2003 ever were.

And they are far better equipped because Henry has led a cultural revolution that has fixed much that was wrong with the national team.

He, like the other All Black coaches in the professional era, recognised that within the hulking frames of the players lurked underdeveloped personalities, ill-equipped to cope with the massive public expectation.

He inherited superstar All Blacks who couldn't boil an egg but were expected to be leaders and role models.

Henry, though, unlike other coaches in the professional era, developed strategies to mend the shortcomings of the players and has tried to arm them with the skills they need to become better rugby players and better people.

Taking definitive action marks Henry as the Winston Churchill of his day - the man who succeeded a host of Neville Chamberlains who saw the threat but didn't know how to deal with it.

Henry and his management team felt that if they did the same old things they would most likely get the same old results and the deep-running psychological flaw that made the All Blacks eternally vulnerable would never be healed.