Coaches plan rest for All Blacks

Echoing the sentiments of their South African counterparts, the All Blacks coaching team have raised concerns about burnout of New Zealand’s top players and will meet with Super 14 coaches on Friday in the hope of scheduling periodic breaks in the packed calendar.

Upon his return form a successful November tour of Europe - despite Saturday’s 25-18 loss to the Barbarians - Graham Henry has voiced similar concerns to Springbok coach Peter de Villiers, calling for coordinated management of his country’s top performers.

While the All Blacks disperse for holidays in various location are the globe, Henry and his assistant coaches Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, will meet with New Zealand’s Super 14 coaches in Wellington for a debrief of the tour, and discuss the physical state of some players.

“Can we keep them to a high level with the amount of rugby they’re playing or do they need a bit of space from time to time? We’re just trying to agree on how we do that,” Henry told NZPA.

“They’re not going to be a month out of the game, but a guy might play for three weeks then just needs a break for a week, so he gets out of the environment and gets away.

“Otherwise they’re going to be playing rugby for 10 months of the year for the next two years and they’ll be buggered… they’re buggered now.”

Most All Blacks will be given time off until late January, with veteran full-back Mils Muliaina already granted permission to miss the Chiefs’ first three matches while lock Brad Thorn was allowed to return home a week early after playing every minute of the All Blacks’ first eleven Tests this year.

Henry added that the current All blacks squad was exhausted after playing fourteen Tests this year and things needed to change. He explained however that the plan had more than just the 2011 World Cup in mind but was rather geared to help the players prolong their careers at the top level.

“You see the difference between last year and this year,” he said.

“Last year we had an extended period of time before they started playing Super 14 so they were in good shape and that reflected in the way they played.

“This year we came off a grand slam tour, basically straight into Super 14 and they’ve played rugby right through.

“The same is going to occur, back in their franchises in January, playing in early February, so it builds all the time.

“Unless we look after them as athletes and do what’s best for them then they’re going to struggle.”

Meanwhile, Henry said the coaches were yet to discuss if they would continue in their reshuffled roles which were an undoubted success on this tour.

Hansen reiterated his desire to return to coaching the forwards, despite having added some spice to the attack, while Henry admitted he found some issues with guiding the forwards.

“In my job I need to have contact with the 22 players and being a forward coach I don’t get contact with all 22 so that’s a wee bit of a frustration,” he said.

“But whatever is the best role for this team to be successful, I’m prepared to do.”

All three coaches agreed the reshuffle had put some onus on the players to step up and take more responsibility, which was reflected in their season-highlight 39-12 win over France in Marseille.

Henry said the coaches would discuss their roles early in the Super 14.(source)