Rugby: Charity lunch entree to old rivals' World Cup main course

Graham Henry and his Wallaby counterpart Robbie Deans will put aside their sporting enmity to join forces for charity at a Sydney lunch. Photo / Getty Images

They duelled for many years of provincial rugby and duked it out to be All Black coach.

They led their Auckland, Canterbury, Blues and Crusaders into compelling combats and for the last three years have tested their theories and players either side of the Tasman.

And they are set for several Bledisloe Cup contests as a tasty prelude to the World Cup.

But in late May, All Black coach Graham Henry and his Wallaby counterpart Robbie Deans will put aside their sporting enmity to join forces for charity, sharing top billing at a Sydney lunch to support Hearts in Union, a charity set up to assist players with severe spinal injuries.

By then, the new Super Rugby series will be moving towards the play-offs and patterns will be emerging, plenty of topics for an audience wanting to prise some information nuggets from the coaches.

Henry won't miss any action from the Blues or Chiefs, who have a bye that round, while the Hurricanes and Highlanders have home matches that weekend against the Force and Lions.

If Henry wants to stay in Australia or is offered a bed in the Deans household for the weekend, the rival coaches could travel to Brisbane on the Sunday to inspect the Reds hosting the Crusaders.

By then, strong patterns should be starting to show about the sides and their players.

The Crusaders are favoured to be leading the New Zealand charge while the Reds were a real revelation last year under the new regime of Ewen McKenzie.

Once Super Rugby's first champion is decided on July 9, there will be a fortnight break before the annual Tri-Nations series.

The Boks travel first and play the Wallabies then the All Blacks before the transtasman rivals tangle twice in the truncated Tri-Series, at Eden Park on August 6 then Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on August 27.

That test is the All Blacks' last international before the World Cup and their opening match against Tonga at Eden Park on September 9.

Henry and Deans have coached their All Black and Wallaby sides into combat 12 times since the last World Cup. The Wallabies won the first and last of those encounters, in Sydney then Hong Kong, but the All Blacks have won the other 10 meetings.

While Deans was massively successful as a long-term coach of the Crusaders, his Wallaby sides have lost on all their four trips to New Zealand.

Several times they were in with a shot but lacked the conviction to claim victory, their closest defeat the 16-22 loss at Eden Park in 2009.

The Wallabies should also have nailed other wins in Australia but in Brisbane three years ago (28-24), Sydney two years ago (19-18) and again last year (23-22), they were edged out or run over in the final straight.

However their last-gasp converted try to claim a 26-24 win in Hong Kong last year will have them buoyant after their double-figure run of misses against the All Blacks.

Those matters and other topics which will surface during the inaugural Super Rugby season should provide some bumper discussion when Henry and Deans pull into the same lunchtime combat in Sydney.

It will also rekindle debate about the coaching future and destinations for both men after the World Cup.

Meanwhile their old teams, the Blues and Crusaders, have a fortnight to get their acts together before they meet at Eden Park in the opening round of the new competition.

The Blues then head to South Africa and Perth while the Crusaders tangle with the Hurricanes, Waratahs and Brumbies.