`First lady' Henry heads list of star coaches

If Graham Henry's role as All Blacks coach makes him loftier than the Prime Minister, is his wife Raewyn New Zealand's first lady?
Not if she can help it.
While the highly visible Henry has spent this week preparing his side for Saturday's Tri-Nations showdown against the Wallabies at Eden Park, his wife has been tucked away at Mount Maunganui's Harbourside netball centre.
Raewyn Henry is coaching Auckland's St Mary's College in the B division at the upper North Island secondary schoolgirls' tournament.
She's loving every minute of the relative anonymity away from the hubbub of the All Blacks, not that she's seen much of her husband during what has been a massive six months of international rugby.
"We are like ships in the night much of the time but we're used to it ... and we cherish whatever time we do have together.
"There's an irony in that the week Graham is back in Auckland (preparing for the Eden Park test) I'm down here, but he's busy and I'd maybe only see him once more than I usually would anyway if I was at home."
Henry flew straight from the All Blacks' Tri-Nations test in Dunedin last week to the secondary schools tournament in Tauranga, and heads back to Auckland tomorrow night in time for Saturday's game at Eden Park.
She and the other coaches' wives get to as many tests as possible - grabbing a rare chance to spend whatever time they can with their husbands.
Graham Henry, in an interview last year, said his wife was the first person he turned to when times got tough.
"Raewyn is outstanding. She has been through the mill as an international sporting coach. She understands the requirements."
Raewyn coached Wales for four years during their time there, stepping down after the world championships in Jamaica two years ago.
She had a year off before being asked to guide the St Mary's team.
"It's fun and the girls are steadily playing better. We've had a good day (yesterday)."
When the Henrys are home together, Raewyn concedes conversation rarely drifts towards the round ball game she coaches.
"There's no cross-pollination of ideas and, anyway, I know more about rugby than Graham does about netball so we don't get into many discussions about my coaching.
"I'm quite comfortable in a rugby environment. I was the only daughter of a father who played and brothers who played so rugby's in the family."
Henry accompanied her husband to Cardiff when he was appointed coach of Wales in 1998. Welsh netball snapped up the former Auckland provincial coach.
She graduated to the national team after cutting her teeth with one of the area sides, although she wasn't in it for the pay cheque. While her husband was reportedly earning $850,000 a season, Raewyn's role was virtually voluntary.
"I worked with a netball fraternity that was keen to learn (she was assisted by former Silver Fern Leigh Gibbs and Tauranga's Ali Wieringa) and, between us, we introduced new ways to do things.
"There's not a lot of support for netball - rugby's their passion - but there's good systems in place now which are hopefully filtering down to the young players."
Henry isn't the only coach at Harbourside this week with international credentials - there are seven former Silver Ferns passing on their knowledge to the next generation. Jo Morrison (Steed), who also played for England, is with Auckland Girls Grammar, Leana de Bruin and Tracey Fear Cambridge High, Coral Palmer, a Silver Fern in the 1960s-70s, is coaching Rotorua's John Paul College and Tania Dalton is with Kristin School.
Te Aroha Keenan, who also coached the world champion New Zealand under-21 team, heads title favourites Mount Albert Grammar and Amigene Metcalfe is coaching Cambridge's St Peters School.
Four players - Grace Rasmussen (Avondale), Katrina Grant (Auckland Girls Grammar), Catherine Latu (Massey High) and Susan Tagicakibau (Auckland Girls Grammar) - played in the Youth World Cup, Rasmussen and Grant for New Zealand, Latu for Samoa and Tagicakibau for Fiji.