Henry won't change 'rusty' All Blacks
'Hopefully we will get an improvement in the second Test'
All Blacks coach Graham Henry described the effort by his team, in beating Ireland 34-23 in Hamilton on Saturday, as 'rusty' after not having been together since November. He also said he was happy with the win in the first of two tests.
However, the Kiwi coach is not about to ring the changes ahead of the second international, in Auckland next Saturday. Henry confirmed at the post-match media conference that the current squad would be kept largely intact for the rematch.
"We're pretty happy up here," Henry told the media. "We haven't played for seven months and this team has been together for only five practices.
"It's a big ask against a quality side and we're very happy at the way we came through.
"We're hoping there's going to be a big improvement for the second test and you can't make wholesale changes if you want to do that."
Henry, despite admitting that the team was not at its best, was clearly not going to push any panic buttons.
"I don't think we played the game particularly well in the first half," said Henry as he reflected on a win that kept alive his side's record of never having lost to the Irish. "We went to ground too much, and that didn't help us.
"We were rusty, which is understandable I think. We started to play a lot better in t he second half. It was a good result and I think the Irish boys played well. They attacked us and they've got some quality players.
"But we hadn't played together for seven months and the guys came together and won the game in the finish. They showed a lot of composure in that and did the business. It was a very good result but there's plenty to work on."
Skipper Richie McCaw said relief was the main emotion for him as he reflected on his first match as the full-time All Black captain.
"I guess that's what test matches are all about. We always knew it would a passionate Irish team coming into the match and that was certainly what it was. [I'm] just very relieved to come away with it I guess."
