Henry set for All Blacks juggling act

Graham Henry

Coach Graham Henry is braced for a 10-day juggling act at All Blacks training in the leadup to their tour-opening Grand Slam Tour test against Wales.

Henry announces his 35-strong squad for the four-test tour of Britain and Ireland on Sunday morning. They assemble two days later and arrive in Cardiff on Thursday, allowing about 10 days of preparation.

The squad is sure to feature a healthy number of players involved in Saturday night's NPC final between Auckland and Otago. Likewise, there will be players whose team's NPC campaigns ended two weeks ago or in the NPC semifinals last weekend, handing Henry and his coaching staff a group of players in variable physical shape.

"We've got a challenge, haven't we," Henry said.

"There's a two-week difference between the state of some of these guys -- some will have a two-week break before playing a test and others will have four weeks.

"There will be the need for a lot of physical conditioning for some and not so others. How we conduct our training sessions to suit those needs will be important."

Henry was pleased with the smooth transition of All Blacks players back into the NPC after their respective rest breaks and the co-operation of all provincial coaches in the process.

He admitted some of the returnees had looked a yard off the pace but that was to be expected.

"If guys have 4-5 weeks off, it takes a game or two to come back. That's natural," he said.

"The vast majority come up to it week in-week out after that initial game or two."

This year's Lions series, which involved three tests in three weeks, taught All Blacks management much about how much top level rugby players can sustain before standards drop.

Henry was therefore confident of having each individual physically ready for Cardiff, despite their current disparate states.

"We're not learning about it, I think we've got it nailed. It's just that at the moment we can't control teams not making semifinals and finals.

"Some players don't get enough football and others probably get too much."

Henry revealed the squad selection was still not set in stone, with Saturday's final at Eden Park to play a role.

"There's still a bit of selection requirement. There will be some interest in the weekend," he said.

Of most interest will be the performance of several loose forward fringe contenders such as Otago flankers Craig Newby and Josh Blackie and Auckland forwards Jerome Kaino, Daniel Braid, Angus MacDonald and Brad Mika.

"There's a lot of loose forwards, a number of very good players are going to miss out," Henry said.

"There's about a dozen (loose forwards) who could go and we can only pick seven perhaps. That's going to be difficult for some people and you feel for them."

- NZPA