Graham Henry is backing England to win the World Cup ahead of his native New Zealand after their hard-fought victory over South Africa.
The former Wales and Lions coach, doubling up at the World Cup as a coaching assistant to Fiji and a pundit for HTV Wales, has changed his mind on who he feels will carry off the title in the wake of England’s 25-6 victory in Perth at the weekend.
And Henry believes that the Pool stages will leave England far better prepared for the rigours of the knock-out stage than cup rivals New Zealand.
“The All Blacks are going to find themselves totally unprepared for the quarter-finals after four relatively easy games,” said Henry.
“I saw England against South Africa and I didn’t think they were that impressive – it was a typical first-up game. But what they have had now is a hard game to get their players into gear for high intensity rugby.
“That is very important when it comes to the big games in the knock-out stage as it is difficult to just switch on and off at this level.
“Before the tournament started I tipped the All Blacks to win the World Cup but now I’m really not so sure. There are signs of pressure within the New Zealand camp.
“The management and media are not seeing eye to eye and they will feel the pinch of losing two big players in Tana Umaga and Aaron Mauger to injury.
“That was their first choice midfield and having two 20 year-olds like Ma’fa Nonu and Daniel Carter against the likes of England or Australia is bound to cause some concern.”
Henry resigned as coach of Wales in February 2002 following the record defeat to Ireland in Dublin, having led the unsuccessful Lions tour Down Under the previous summer, but has since returned to Auckland with great success.
He was part of the management team that guided the Blues to this year’s Super 12 title and has just helped Auckland to this weekend’s NPC Final.
“The team that will win the World Cup is the one who can push the right buttons, remain quietly confident and keep their cool,” said Henry.
“England have got a lot of experience in their team. Martin Johnson probably has as many caps as the whole All Black side, and the win over South Africa will have given them confidence.”
