KEY POINTS:
Indications about the fate of the All Blacks panel will surface in about a fortnight once the New Zealand Rugby Union has absorbed a review of the World Cup campaign.
Graham Henry offered no abdication hints yesterday, the coach telling the Herald he would not make any decision
about his future until the board had completed their appraisal.
"We are doing our best to make sure we rule off correctly from the World Cup," he said.
The NZRU board will meet in the middle of this month when, after digesting the reviews, they will choose to reappoint some or all of the All Black coaching incumbents - or ask for applications.
"It is occupying a lot of time and energy," NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs said. "The coaches' review is an annual thing but it is a bit more extensive this year. It will all be compiled within the terms of reference, but the results will not be published because it is an employer-employee issue."
The deadline for reports and submissions about Henry and his assistants, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, was yesterday with players, management and World Cup campaign staff asked to deliver their assessments to manager Darren Shand.
That information will then be assessed by the board's rugby committee - Mike Eagle, Graham Mourie, Ivan Haines and Hobbs, with assistance from NZRU staff Chris Moller, Steve Tew and HR manager Kirstin Paterson.
Once the analysis is completed and a decision made on their reappointment, the NZRU will select an independent panel to complete a separate, wider review on the entire World Cup campaign. After the All Blacks' numbing quarter-final exit, the 2008 coaching plans have come under considerable strain. There was a plan, on the back of a successful campaign, to promote Hansen while Henry was to ease into life as a consultant.
That approach appears to have been shelved, with a push by some to retain Henry on the basis of an All Blacks record of 42 wins in 48 tests, the need for continuity, to tap into his widespread experience and his ability to reinvent himself at the top level.
The main alternative is the Crusaders' supremo Robbie Deans, who voiced his desire to be All Black coach this week and, despite reports, he will still consider coaching the Wallabies next year if he is overlooked by the NZRU.
What loomed as an uncomplicated succession plan for the All Black panel, has now become an exercise in self-preservation. It has also left the NZRU board and staff in a difficult position because, if they change the coaches, they are also condemning the World Cup policies they condoned.
If the board chooses to retain Henry, 61, in a crossover coaching role and Hansen, while making Smith the scapegoat for the erratic backline, they will lose the younger 48-year-old Deans.
All Henry's requests were granted in the obsessive World Cup quest and the campaign failed. Allowances, even those for the average refereeing from Wayne Barnes, do not cut it in professional sport - especially with a man in his prime like Deans, or Warren Gatland, waiting for a chance.
Deans has been wrestling with a patriotic dilemma. He wants to coach again at test level after a brief taste as All Blacks assistant for two years. His preference is to coach the All Blacks but he is still the prime Wallaby target - although he is concerned about the reaction if he accepted that offer.
The longer the NZRU takes in appointing the next coach - a decision Hobbs said might not be confirmed until Christmas - the more pressure comes on the ARU to settle on a contender from the short-list they are interviewing next week.
This week, All Blacks players have been debriefed by the World Cup campaign manager Steve Cottrell for their feedback, while the coaches spent a great deal of time compiling their job protection dossiers and claims for reinstatement.