Rugby: Henry in the zone to steer All Blacks to top

All Black coach Graham Henry aims to coax more out of Carter by getting senior backs to step up to the mark. Photo / Getty Images

One of the lines from the Beatles song went; "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?"

The song was part of the Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album, released when All Black coach Graham Henry was probably toiling through university years.

But the questions in the lyrics became apt this week when Henry blew out 64 candles as his side prepared to play Ireland in their first test of the season.

The All Blacks need Henry more than ever to drive their plans and direction; to set them on their World Cup track and they should be feeding and watering him handsomely.

This is the start of the steady incline towards next year's tournament in New Zealand, where the pressure will be suffocatingly relentless as the All Blacks search for a title to match 1987.

Henry is the supremo, "the King Kumara", as assistant Wayne Smith so quaintly referred to him recently, the man charged with guiding and finetuning the nation's rugby jewel.

This is Henry's time, where he cannot let age or weariness interfere with the All Blacks ambition. It is a massive task for the sports-obsessed former headmaster, an enormous demand on a man who could be relaxing with his grandchildren on an island in the Hauraki Gulf.

Instead we find Henry in New Plymouth this week, talking about a multitude of plans including taking the heat off his talisman first five-eighths Daniel Carter.

This is Henry at his best, where he brings the experience of six decades and more to a range of topics, organises them strongly and settles on a solution.

He is in the zone. He has been mulling over the Super 14, watching tactics, seeing patterns emerge, gauging players' strengths and weaknesses, sorting out ideas to keep the All Blacks at the top of the global game.

One of his tasks is to coax more snap into and out of Carter's game, to find the team frequency which will reignite his five-eighths' class.

"We have been together for six years [in the All Blacks] and I think my job is to try and take the pressure off Daniel Carter as much as I can," Henry said. "He is the navigator of the side and he feels a big responsibility in that navigation.

"So if you can get the navigation of the side shared between a number of people and bring them on and take some of the pressure off DC so he can play, I think that is very important."

Henry fingered senior backs such as Jimmy Cowan, Conrad Smith, Joe Rokocoko and Mils Muliaina for those duties.

They needed to step up, make more decisions and offer more help to Carter.

"And it is always good if the forwards can do their job," the coach added wryly.

Touche Ted. As he noted, if the pack was getting dealt to then a five-eighths' ability would be hugely impaired. If the forwards were doing their bit and the team understood the fabric of their gameplan, then Carter would have a much broader influence. Simple really.

Henry accepted Carter had not been at his razor best during the Super 14. He did not know why, he was not concerned as class was permanent and Carter always gave 100 per cent.

Most times that was productive. "He has got high personal standards and he knows what he has to do," Henry said, "and he will play some outstanding football like he has played in the past.

"You just can't expect him to play at 100 all the time. He is going to drop at times because he is human."

So how does Henry go about coaxing his star five-eighths?

Shared player responsibility was one method, chats rather than instructional hectoring was another. Picking the moment for casual conversations was also part of the package.

Knowing when to do that formed part of the instincts Henry had gleaned in his decades of coaching.

"You don't need to sit down on the couch and have a grandfatherly chat," he said. "It is something that evolves all the time you are together in small groups, or units or as a team.

"You just need to be aware Daniel has got a huge responsibility, huge expectation and that won't change a great deal.

"So you have to work out how you can make it the best it can be as far as he is concerned."

Choosing when to introduce backup five-eighths Aaron Cruden into a test was also part of the picture.

The All Blacks priority was to play well and win and if that occurred then they would have more flexibility in bringing someone like Cruden on.

"It is important when we bring Aaron on to the track that we put some experience round him and to have him playing with Benson [Stanley] as new caps at 10 and 12 might be quite a challenge."

Hints perhaps from Henry that all going well, he might like to get Cruden on late in the test with Carter slipping out one position to mentor the young man.