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Happy Henry rubs salt

Happy Henry rubs salt

07/31/2010 06:00:56 PM

However you put it, eight consecutive losses to the same team is demoralising and All Blacks coach Graham Henry, much like his side, knows how to ram home the advantage.

"If I had eight losses in a row I'd find that very difficult to handle to be frank," Henry said of the pressure mounting on Wallabies coach Robbie Deans after Australia was belted 49-28 in Melbourne on Saturday.

Asked if Deans would be feeling tense after another disappointing result against his countrymen, Henry quipped: "What do you think? It's a pretty obvious question and a pretty obvious answer. I think they're under a lot of heat and that's just the nature of international sport I guess."

Henry was understandably delighted with the performance.

"Obviously we're very pleased with the way the guys played," he enthused.

"To score seven tries against Australia in Australia is a great performance really and I think that's a record since 1937 ... before the war anyway, so we're very pleased with that."

"I thought there was some scintillating rugby and I'm sure the people that watched it would have been pleased to watch the game ... and I think both side contributed to that."

The All Blacks coach believed Australia could take some pride from the way it fronted after wing Drew Mitchell received his second yellow card early in the second spell.

"The Australians went down to 14 players and that seems to be par for the course these days, but they never gave up - they actually played better when they had 14 than when they had 15."

"So in summary [it was] a very pleasing performance."

A devastated Deans admitted the Wallabies were their own worst enemies during the heavy loss.

Having made a dream start when Mitchell crossed for the opening try in the eighth minute, the Wallabies came crashing back to reality as the Kiwis ran in four unanswered tries before the break.

And when Mitchell was sent off by South African referee Craig Joubert in the 43rd minute of the contest when handed a second yellow card for deliberately slowing down play, victory was all but assured for the visitors.

"The little things are important in Test rugby and we gave them a lot of assistance all night," an emotional Deans lamented after the match.

"We didn't have any consistent possession in the first half and that was a big contributing factor to our circumstance, and obviously playing with less than 15 men for the greater part of the game compounded that."

"A lot of our challenge in the game was a lot of little stuff. You know a charge down immediately after a charge down and score is the sort of stuff that's so easily averted. And that's the sort of detail we've got to master if you want to prevail."

Asked his thoughts on the Mitchell send off, a clearly unimpressed Deans conceded: "It was damaging. I don't want to comment on the decision, I mean the decision was made and we suffered the consequence."

Pressed on his thoughts of Mitchell's actions after the winger foolishly slapped the ball out of an All Blacks player's hands after the whistle had already been blown, Deans said: "Costly. It's the only way you'd describe it."

But while clearly disappointed at having suffered an eighth consecutive loss at the hands of the All Blacks, Deans took some comfort

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
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