KEY POINTS:
The Tricker-Heron Report has gone some way to giving a better understanding as to what happened to the All Blacks at last year's World Cup.
It appears thorough and has not hesitated to place both credit and blame. Many of its findings were already known with areas such as the conditioning programme being widely disputed and dismissed way before the RWC even started. I still struggle to believe the report's assertion that for most of 2007 Henry and co selected the best All Black teams possible for individual tests.
The rotation of players leading up to and during the Rugby World Cup was a mistake. The claims that our players are worked harder than those in other competitions seems at odds with the views of players who have been involved with both scenarios.
Travel and time away from home shouldn't be confused with game time. Top players in France and England play more regular rugby than our guys. The lack of game time by the stars in the months leading up to the Rugby World Cup was a fatal flaw in the meticulous planning and even the most junior of coaches should appreciate the danger of players lacking game time.
The concept of building leadership within the All Blacks has been praised but it must be admitted that at the crunch this failed. The methods used should be discarded and those responsible replaced. The leadership qualities within New Zealand rugby may be our biggest area of concern and it needs real attention _ not only at All Black level but right through the game.
If this report had been published before the appointment of the All Black coach, would Graham Henry still have been reappointed? Probably.
The NZRU board voted 7-1 in Henry's favour and more importantly against Deans. They must have suspected most of what Mike Heron and Don Tricker have discovered and probably more and yet were still well against letting Henry go and Deans in.
Time will tell if the union picked the right guy. I hope we don't see another report about the rise of Australian rugby and the demise of ours.
It has been good to read that Jock Hobbs and Henry are sorry for the decisions and mistakes made which cost RWC glory. Maybe this could have been done way back in October 2007 as surely they must have known better than Heron and Tricker the consequences of their plans.
Would they have ever bothered with apologies if there was no report? The major benefit of the report is for those in power to recognise and accept its findings and make positive change.
Between the reports for RWCs 1999, 2003 and 2007 they should know just about everything that shouldn't be done to win a Rugby World Cup.
Already Hobbs has acknowledged that the present structure of the Super 14, NPC and tests calendar is not working and needs change. Henry has stated that top players should be used in an extended Super 14 and test matches but not included in provincial rugby.
This would be bad news for grassroots rugby and another nail in the coffin of what was once heralded as the best provincial competition in the world. The NZRU needs to be bold in its decisions regarding future competitions as this will solve a number of problems facing the game.
Henry has acknowledged the timing of the conditioning period was wrong but not the concept.
We understand Wayne Bennett, the Aussie league supercoach, was blunt in his discussions with the All Black hierarchy about the amount of game time and pampering the top players receive and yet Henry and co remain convinced their theories are correct.
The NZRU has followed correct corporate procedure by commissioning the report.
Hopefully they will use it as a catalyst for being bold and making the urgent changes which are vital to the future of rugby.
