Sir Graham Henry: Newcomers bolster strong squad

Nehe Milner-Skudder is one player Sir Graham Henry is excited to see included. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Opinion

The All Blacks squad coach Steve Hansen and his fellow selectors picked for the World Cup was the one I expected them to choose but not the one I would have gone with.

I would have had about two or three different players - I'm not going to tell you which ones because I don't want to be seen to be trying to undermine what they are trying to do, especially now I don't have the level of analysis available to the selectors - but I love the team they have picked.

The All Blacks will come up against defensively-oriented sides but they will look to get their game-breakers involved, and they have more than any other side at the World Cup.

It's exciting to see newcomers Nehe Milner-Skudder and Waisake Naholo join the likes of Julian Savea, Ben Smith and Ma'a Nonu because they can break the line, but those players are still able to do the core roles expected of them.

That was one of the reasons the All Blacks won in 2011. In the back three, for example, we had Cory Jane, Israel Dagg and Richard Kahui, who could not only break the line but were also safe under the high ball and made their tackles.

There are a number of criteria teams need to meet to win World Cups.

One is leadership. If you look back over the years to captains of winning sides, they are impressive men including Richie McCaw, John Eales, John Smit, Martin Johnson and Francois Pienaar.

Another is goalkicking. The exception was 2011 with the All Blacks when we couldn't kick until Beaver came on, thank goodness. Traditionally, though, goalkicking has played a huge part, along with dropped goals.

A third is big defence.

Unfortunately, the All Blacks are in the weakest pool at the tournament. It's not ideal but they have been there before - I remember we had a pretty weak pool in 2007 and they will have learned from that.

Those who survive the so-called pool of death, which includes Australia, England and Wales, will be in great nick going into the quarter-finals. I agree with former Australian playmaker Stirling Mortlock, who said recently he would take being in pool A over New Zealand's pool.

One of those teams could grow emerging out of the group of death and it could well be Australia. They will have to win two or three tough pool games, because Fiji are in there as well, and then three knockout matches to win the World Cup but it's do-able.

You will see sides changing during the tournament. Some will fall over and some will gain momentum and confidence and produce rugby they have never produced before. That's World Cup-winning rugby.

It would have been good for the All Blacks to be in a tougher pool and they would have qualified no matter what group they were in.

The fact they are in the weakest pool probably had an influence on selections - like the fact there are only three locks.

There was some talk this week about the value of tries increasing to six points. Any New Zealand rugby fan would support that, big time, because we are the best attacking team in the world.

I was surprised the Welsh are pushing the case because, even though they have a pretty potent backline, they are not scoring as many tries as they should. They also have arguably the world's best goalkicker right now in Leigh Halfpenny. Maybe we will see something different at this World Cup from the Welsh, who were unlucky not to make the final four years ago.

Sir Graham Henry - Brought to you by Husqvarna.