Henry: 'Maybe I'm just naive'
Graham Henry has admitted he was 'naive' in his claims of match-fixing in the All Blacks' 2007 World Cup quarterfinal loss.
The 2011 World Cup-winning New Zealand coach has spoken out for the first time since causing an uproar with his match-fixing claims.
Speaking at a tribute dinner Henry admitted it had been a controversial call to include his suspicions of match-fixing in his new autobiography but said he needed to tell the truth.
"You write these books and you can say, 'Well, let's not say that, let's fob that, let's not get too much into that.' But I think if you write an autobiography, it needs to be honest, it needs to be real, it needs to be what you think,” said Henry.
"Maybe I'm naive, but this book is about that – it's about being black and white, totally honest and my thoughts are in that book, and there's no fobbing on those."
Henry said analysing the shocking upset against France left him "physically ill." "I spewed in the toilets … I was just bloody amazed," he said.
"It was completely outside anything I had experienced before. And I just thought you know, match-fixing, sports betting – and that's what I put in the book, and it's caused a huge bloody furore."
Henry added that he mentioned his "gut feeling" to the New Zealand Rugby Union, who advised him not to pursue the matter with the International Rugby Board.
"Their advice was right. Otherwise if I'd pushed the point at that time, I would never have coached the All Blacks again,” he said.
"To coach the All Blacks again was a surprise to me."
