Henry stands by his World Cup strategies, or The All Blacks do a Jerry Collins.

"I don't think it's for me to tell people how they should judge me," Henry said ... "I feel comfortable that I've done everything I can to try to ensure that we have done the best we can as an All Blacks side, so that's for other people to judge really."

The All Blacks have been regularly beaten in important matches simply by close marking of their backs and covering little pushes from the side of the scrum, ruck or maul - the french have done it before, they have just done it again ... does this signify the intellectual depth, the lack of skills of these well-paid, full-time professional players, or the coaches? ... obviously Henry blames the players, but then personal survival would demand this.

That this deficit has not been addressed, and it has become a traditional occurrence, a 'once were warriors' thingamy ... the Jerry Collins phenomenon of wetting himself publicly on the field ... and anyone who has ever worked in a psychogeriatric setting will be aware how infectious this is ... puts the responsibility squarely on the coaching staff ($50 million dollars I believe they had to correct this phenomenon).

The inability to move the ball immediately it became available, the consequent time permitted for the opposition to set their defence, the inability to breach the advantage line with close marking - where were the chip kicks, the grubber kicks to push them back, to create that ambivalence, that hesitation, that close support on the half break? - no what we`saw was a game plan that showed quite emphatically that 'planned moves' (and how many Graham Henry? 60+ ?) simply do not compensate for spontaneous play with what is in front of you at a given point in time.

Now, Henry, I believe, largely got what he wanted in his quest to 'bring home the bacon' ... reduced playing time (that 'reconditioning period' & less returns due to less interest in the super 12/14 as a consequence plus a $50 million investment) ... would you place your life savings with this man and his investment team??

The NZ World Cup ... The spitoon.

Buuuttt ... it's only a game.