Yesterday, in the most dramatic six hours of World Cup history, Robbie Deans went from expected Wallaby coach to All Black supremo-in-waiting.
Australia has been open about signing Deans and while that prospect seemed closer after their stumble yesterday against England, the ensuing quarter-final exit for the All Blacks has given Deans the passage to the national coaching job.
The independent review for the NZRU announced today will encompass all aspects of planning for the tournament, including the governance of the NZRU and its decision to support Henry's strategies such as the controversial conditioning programme.
Henry and his assistants will be interviewed as part of that process later this month and chairman Jock Hobbs said a new coach would be appointed before Christmas.
An emotional Henry, whose contract expires early next year, said at a press conference this morning that he would spend time at home in Auckland before deciding whether to put his name back in the hat.
" I'll get rid of the emotion, there's a wee bit of emotion here as you can probably see," he said.
"I don't think there's any rush for me or (wife) Raewyn to be rushing into what we'd like to do immediately in the future.
"We just need to take some time on that, maybe six weeks."
Hansen and Smith were also non-committal about their futures.
Hobbs said NZRU management remained firm that they had done nothing wrong, therefore the need for an independent reviewer.
"It would be pointless for us (NZRU) to do it, we think we've made the right decision. We may not have," Hobbs said.
"Someone independent of us may have decided we made some mistakes along the way.
Four years ago, Hobbs and chief executive Chris Moller were involved a day after the All Blacks' World Cup ended in Sydney, by announcing major reviews of the campaign and tenders for the coaching positions.
Eventually coaches John Mitchell and Deans were let go - they had dared to focus on winning the World Cup at the expense of other corporate, commercial and media duties - but the administrators retained their jobs.
Since then those officials and the NZRU have given Henry and Co carte blanche in an attempt to win the Webb Ellis Cup after a 20- year hiatus.
The parallels with 2003 became greater this year with a season pitted by the absence of All Blacks from the Super 14, squabbles with News Ltd and a damaged national championship, all in the name of World Cup glory.
The All Blacks selectors knew their fate when referee Wayne Barnes signalled France had beaten the tournament favourites at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
They glumly shook hands, quietly left their seats and disappeared into the stadium.
"Obviously we are disappointed but that is sport I guess," Henry said. "It was that game where we didn't play as well as we have done in the past, the French played particularly well in defence, I thought they were very astute in their game plan and they took their opportunities."
An All Blacks side that had waltzed through their pool against soft opposition while making plenty of handling errors, repeated that theme and folded under the relentless pressure from hosts France.
They lost a 13-3 lead, they lost their attacking bottle and trust in the backline, they tried to win the quarter-final through their energetic pack but came up short against tight French resistance.
Five-eighths Daniel Carter never looked comfortable in his return from a calf strain and his replacement Nick Evans lasted only 15 minutes before he strained a hamstring.
After an encouraging start, there was a lack of rhythm and tempo from the backline, signs of the minimal matchplay they have had this season.
When Luke McAlister was sinbinned after halftime for obstruction, the All Blacks yielded a penalty and converted try to Thierry Dusautoir as the shape of the game shifted.
A TMO decision favoured Rodney So'oialo's leg drive for the line before a French shortside raid, involving a suspicious forward pass from Damien Traille to Frederic Michalak, brought France the winning converted try to Yannick Jauzion.
It was close. The All Blacks should still have won but they didn't. It is on those margins that the NZRU wagered their conditioning and player rotation strategies.
Everything, Henry said, was done to have the All Blacks at peak for the playoffs, the NZRU acceded to those requests and the side left the World Cup at an earlier stage than any of their predecessors.
Four more years have become 24 years and thoughts the All Blacks may now have to qualify as tournament hosts in 2011.
"I think people will judge how they want to judge, it is not for me to tell people how they should judge me," Henry said of his four-year campaign.
"I feel comfortable that I have done everything I can to try and ensure that we have done the best we can as an All Blacks side."
Henry said he had not thought about his future but the Cardiff defeat, the sixth in his 48 tests in charge, will end his tenure.
- with NZPA, NEWSTALK ZB
View photos from the match