New Zealand Rugby
Henry pleased with tour return
Scrum.com
December 8, 2009
New Zealand coach Graham Henry, Italy v New Zealand, San Siro, Milan, November 14, 2009
Graham Henry has praised his All Blacks © Getty Images
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All Blacks coach Graham Henry has praised his side's unbeaten Test tour after returning home from a gruelling European stint. New Zealand saw off challenges from Australia, Wales, Italy, England and France before their second string fell to a fired-up Barbarians side in a non-cap encounter at Twickenham last weekend.

Henry believes that the defeat has not adversely affected the squad and also that they have grown as a unit since their opening tour Test against the Wallabies in Tokyo on October 31.

"We won five Test matches out of the five Test matches, and if we'd said that before we left we would have been delighted with that, so we achieved what we wanted to achieve," he said. "There was a lot of unity. We had a lot of people who couldn't play during the year who came back, and we had some new players who joined the tour, and new blood actually adds a bit of energy."

The highlight of the tour was a thrilling 39-12 victory over France in Marseille and Henry insisted that the French deserved a share of the credit for their ambition in what was the standout Test of the season from an attacking perspective.

"It takes two teams to do that," he said. "They both wanted to scrum, both wanted to use the ball at the breakdown, both wanted to turn the pill over and use the ball in their hands, so that's a hell of a good criteria for a top rugby game, so France deserve a lot of credit.

"We got a big thrill out of it too because we'd been knocking on the door for a while and we just got the confidence and got a couple of good early tries and the boys expressed themselves. That would be one of the best Test matches this group of coaches has been involved in so it was very pleasing."

The All Blacks are not used to losing four Tests in a season, with three going the way of the Springboks, but regardless Henry rated the season as a good one.

"We're probably about 70% there," he said. "We had players out with injury [earlier in the year] and we were trying to win games without the experienced backbone there, and that's good experience for the guys who are actually playing, there's a lot of pressure on them. Once the team gelled again and most of the senior players were playing together again and had some time together, it started to get better."

Henry has expressed his fears about the lack of strength-in-depth in certain key positions, notably openside behind skipper Richie McCaw, and has called on the fringe players to step up during next season's Super 14.

"We've got some players who played well who were new players in the team, and others who would be disappointed in how they played, so we've got some depth problems in some positions," he said. "They've got another chance in the Super 14 next year, so they've always got a chance at redemption."

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