Leading rugby historian Clive Akers doesn’t mince his words when it comes to rating the 1966 Lions which toured New Zealand.
Former All Blacks World Cup-winning coach Sir Graham Henry has revealed that he was not up to the job when appointed British and Irish Lions coach for the 2001 tour to Australia and that it should have gone to Sir Clive Woodward.
In a frank admission, Sir Graham, who wasto part company with Wales within 12 months after returning from losing the series 2-1 to the Wallabies, believes that he "wasted" the opportunity given to him as the first overseas coach to lead the Lions. He also stated, however, that the harsh lessons learned from that experience led him to overhaul his style of coaching which he then employed to such good effect when helping guide the All Blacks to World Cup glory on home soil in 2011.
The Lions tour was mired in controversy, with scrum-half Matt Dawson publicly berating the management, mid-tour, for the "harshness" of the training regime. Sir Graham did not comment on specifics but acknowledged that his approach was wrong.
"I wasn't ready to take up the job - the Welsh rugby union warned me that it was too big a step and that I needed time to prepare, being the arrogant little sod that I was, I didn't listen, thought I could handle it, but they were dead right," said Sir Graham. "The Lions made a poor decision in making me coach. Clive [Woodward] should have done it. I was lucky to survive and to learn so much."
The British Lions coach Graham Henry congratulates his team after their 116-10 win against Western Australia in 2001. Photo / Getty
Sir Graham, irked at being passed over for the All Blacks job in 1998, became one of the highest-paid coaches in the world when hired by Wales that same year, repaying that faith in him very quickly when winning 10 successive Test matches to earn him the nickname, 'The Great Redeemer'. What had worked with Wales did not bear fruit with the Lions, albeit the series against the world champion Wallabies went to the final moments of the third Test.
"If I had done it differently, we could have got the job done [beating the Wallabies]. I was a team-orientated coach, not a player-orientated coach.
"But that is the way it was. I realised that things had to change. I changed my coaching style, looked to involve players and give them responsibility."
