Rugby Update: All Blacks will not underrate Wales- Graham Henry
All Blacks, the number 1 rank team in International Rugby Board’s ratings are going to face number 9 team Wales in their last, but not the least, match of the tour of Northern Hampshire on this Saturday.
Even though, All Blacks are considered the hot favourite for the match and Wales didn’t beat them from the last 57 years but still All Blacks coach Graham Henry said, they will not underrate Wales.
Wales is yet to taste victory in the current season. They played 3 matches so far in the season and lost against the stronger teams Springboks and Wallabies.
But their most second-rate performance came in the match against Fiji, which considers as weaker team but still Fiji managed to draw the game against Wales.
Henry said; he doesn’t know how Wales played against Fiji. The only thing he knows is that Fiji drawn the match. But you can’t say they will play the same against All Blacks as well. They will try to put their 100% in the match. They are a fighter team.
He further gave the example of Ireland and said,
"Look at the Irish. If you had watched them play against Samoa the week before they played us you wouldn't have thought they were up to much."
Truly speaking the match is looking only a formality for All Blacks as they never lost any European tour match in the history. By winning the match against Wales, All Blacks will grab one more Grand Slam.
Henry said; they know it is a huge chance for them to win the Grand Slam and all the players are fully aware of it. He said, his team has talked about the Grand Slam and all the players are fully excited for it.
All Blacks have won this Grand Slam 3 times before. Their current squad has many players, who won this Grand Slam in 2005 and 2008 but few players are new and winning this year’s Grand Slam will be a great encouragement for them.
Henry, who has also coached Wales in the past, further said although the Wales is an average side but he used to remind his players the Springboks’ upset defeat against Scotland, which no one was expecting.
The match against Wales will be the last game of All Blacks in this year and no doubt, the players are tired. This thing can go in Wales’ favour.
Henry said they played a huge number of test matches during this year and players are starting to feel the exhaustion. All Blacks are continuously playing matches from February and it is almost end of November.
“We've had very successful European tours down the years and I always enjoy coming here, especially Wales, where I still have a lot of friends and there are people I respect. Our record here is something to be proud of. But we have to finish the job
off on Saturday. It won't just happen; we have to make it happen."
Talking about training, Henry said they will not go for very heavy training this week. This week’s training will be more about fine tuning. He said they have already put huge amount of energy during this year and don’t want to overdo it by training heavily.
Speaking about this year’s tour of Northern Hampshire, Henry said this tour has been a constructive tour for them. They have learned a lot from the tour, which is what they have been here.
Now the match day is only 2 days away and All Blacks would love to beat Wales in order to end their season with a victory and another Grand Slam.
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