A comment by former All Blacks and World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry has infuriated media in England.
The Guardian is reporting Henry describing England as “the world champion of wasting talent” and that he has criticised them as playing “a game based on fear”.
The publication is referring to a blog, allegedly written by Graham Henry where he says: “It sometimes seems that England are world champions at wasting talent,” after talking about some England quality that has not yet reached potential.
The article had the byline that Henry was still the New Zealand coach, instead of former coach, and went on to condemn the England style of rugby while giving a smaller bouquet to the potential in the ranks.
But the former coach scours: “At national level and at club level English teams are far too worried about securing possession. They are obsessed with sealing off the ball carrier. The English teams are paranoid that an opponent might steal the ball and so everyone jams on the brakes and seals off possession. It is fearful and often illegal.”
He adds that there is a lack of dynamic forward momentum and little shifting in the defensive line: “No wonder England had trouble scoring tries against the better teams at the World Cup”.
While some may see the blog as being brutally honest, almost to a sense of being cruel, no doubt Henry himself would argue that after a 2011 World Cup like England had, knocked out in the quarter-finals by France, they should be thankful for the tips.
3 News