Bevan Rapson on the Rugby World Cup: We mustn't count our chickens

Sonny Bill Williams celebrates with his team mates. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Settle down, breathe through your nose and, if you must show your emotions, keep it to a clenched upside-down smile like All Black coach Graham Henry's. It was only a Rugby World Cup pool game. The path to the final is still strewn with banana skins.

But for the Henry-sceptics, those of us who thought he and his sidekicks were lucky to hang on to their jobs four years ago, it's time to acknowledge the All Black coaching trio have got the odd thing right.

One is their recruitment and development of Sonny Bill Williams.

Henry's stock role is as the headmaster he once was. That smugly firm-but-fair persona with his pronouncements on what is "pleasing" or "disappointing" can pall, especially if you ever rubbed a headmaster up the wrong way yourself.

But when he got a sniff of the supremely talented Williams wanting to be an All Black last year he turned sweet-talking salesman, rolling out the welcome mat and patter for the player and his agent, Khoder Nasser. Never mind whether it looked a little undignified for an All Black coach, Henry did what it took to get his man.

That was worth reflecting on as Williams did his stuff at Eden Park on Saturday night.

Henry learned his trade in Auckland schools rugby, of course, where there is a long tradition of snapping up talent wherever you can find it. The schools on the wrong side of the deal sometimes call it poaching. Learning how to woo the parents of skilled teenagers might just have equipped Henry to win over the colourful Nasser and his charge.

Back in his days at Kelston Boys he reached out as far as Invercargill to recruit Mils Muliaina, an event recalled when it became certain the long-time Henry favourite had lost his fullback berth to Israel Dagg. While Dagg and Williams turned the French roosters into feather dusters, Muliaina was carrying Dan Carter's kicking tee.

This, so the story goes, shows Henry's necessary ruthlessness.

Maybe. Dagg's rapid ascent and Williams' sudden reinvention as a winger certainly show the All Black coaches are prepared to adapt and adjust at the last minute.

A sceptic might wonder if they're just making it up as they go along.

And aren't we still awfully thin in the loose forwards if McCaw or Kaino go down? Isn't it kind of late to be settling on a starting halfback? Has Slade's goalkicking come right?

Henry would probably find this kind of talk "disappointing", especially after a confidence-boosting win repaying the coaches' faith.

But whatever happened to the roosters on Saturday, history has shown us not to count our chickens.