Coaching Wales was a killer – Henry

NEW Zealand rugby legend Graham Henry has revealed how his time coaching in Wales was a lifechanging experience that “just about killed him” at the finish, writes Anthony Woolford.

The Aucklander took over the Welsh reins in August 1998 on a five year contract, intended to run up to and include the 2003 World Cup.

Henry’s deal, reputed to be worth £250,000 a year, made him at the time the highest paid coach in Welsh rugby history.

But in February 2002 he headed back to New Zealand as his reign came to an end by mutual consent following a Welsh Rugby Union general committee meeting.

His departure followed hot on the heels of Wales’ 54-10 Six Nations Championship thrashing against Ireland in Dublin.

Henry coached Wales in 34 Tests – winning 20, drawing one and losing 13 – with his scalps including South Africa, England and two momentous victories over France in Paris where Wales had not won since 1975.

There was also a run of 10 successive victories.

Henry, who also coached the 2001 Lions to a 2-1 Test series defeat in Australia, a tour that also compounded the pressure on him when returning to the Wales job.

And the man, who would later go on and help the All Blacks dish out a 3-0 hammering to the 2005 Lions before leading them to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in his homeland, laid bare just how much of a toll the Wales and Lions jobs took on him.

The 74-year-old told the All Blacks podcast: “I wanted to coach the All Blacks but they didn’t know who I was, even though I’d been coaching Auckland and the Blues for six or seven years.

“So the Welsh asked me to coach them, I asked New Zealand Rugby would I have a chance of coaching the All Blacks and I didn’t get a very positive response, so I decided to go north.

“I think I was probably the first guy to do that sort of stuff, at that level anyway, it was a fantastic experience.

“I learned so much about myself - it just about killed me.

“To come back and be lucky enough to coach the All Blacks after that experience was a lot of luck and a fantastic opportunity to be able to coach your own people. I felt so privileged.

“I think they (the Welsh nation) are just different, they’re beautiful people, but they’re so bloody passionate.

“They feel they’re in the team. There’s only two and half million of them, in Wales, a lot more live outside of the Principality, but they feel part of the team. They’ve all got the jerseys on and are in to it.”