So who will it be the All Black couch?

John Mitchell or Graham Henry??

Personall I think it's Henrys turn. He's been wanting this job for ages and I think he's the right man for the job. He's got a much more impressive track record also.

Also best of luck to the New Zealand Barbarians.

a more impressive track record?

Yeah right.


Whats mitch got..83% success rate with essentially a brand new team....not bad...not bad.....considering the average success rate of the AB's over their entire existence is up just over the 60% mark

Henry coached Wales....I think the Welsh are doing better under Hansen

when Henry coached the Lions....several of his key players wouldnt even talk to him.....you ca hardly credit Henry with aucklands current success, however he has played a major part.

I guess we will find out today who gets the job.

My personal feelin is that mitch should stay..but get rid of Robbie Deans

I thought they were looking for a new coach.
Do they need new furniture as well?

coach?
I thought they had a team bus?

The last thing we need is our players and officials sitting around on couches, get the lazy buggers out running!

And what Damien said, for any reason why you don't want Mitchell to stay the same applies to Henry, and for any reason you want him to stay the same applies to Henry, they are both good coaches and they both have their faults, it will come down to politics who gets the job.

I'm picking Henry will.

I think Henry will get the job too, not because he is better than Mitch (I think they're fairly even in coaching talent), but because the way Mitch treated the union, the sponsors, and some of the players won't be forgotten easily.

I don't think that anybody was fooled by that bs media onslaught Mitch tried to pull, he obviously still thinks that people in NZ are stupid, and just because he smiled for the cameras now when he's fighting a loosing battle, doesn't mean that in say two years time he wouldn't revert to the old Mitchell (an arrogant prick, and not that great a coach imo), and they'd be screwed because it'd be too late to replace him.

I don't think the union will take that chance, given that there are more than a few members of the board out for his blood, and the fact that he publicly stated many times before the WC that he'd go happily if the AB's didn't win the cup gives them an easy out.

More people dislike him than like him...he will go.
And good riddance I say, results aside, he's made rugby in NZ an even more unpleasant thing than it already was.

Why Henry is a better man for the job:

- He's coached an NPC and Super 12 team for several years. Mitchell only had one year and didn't achieve a lot.
- He's coached another international side, not with staggering success, but at least he's had some experience
- He can handle the media properly. He realises they're the only connection to the NZ public, and you can't treat them like dirt.

He did pretty well with the Lions tour. He was forced into a political situation where Woodward probably should've been coach, but because they like to balance things out with the Lions, Henry got it instead. The English media and players took their frustration out on him. The fact that the Lions did as well as they did is pretty amazing to me.

I think Henry is the best man for the job. Mitchell has done well over the 2 years, but he's doing enough things wrong to warrant a change.

BTW, the All Blacks all time ratio is around 75% - the highest ratio for any team in International sport. Keep in mind as well, that a lot of these games were against good opposition, we didn't use to have easy wins against Fiji or whoever back in the day.

The only other team with a winning rate above60% is the Saffas.

Australia were not exactly a world force until about 20 years ago.


your only as good as your recent results.

I think the only thing that will count against Mitch in a major way was his public relations...and treatment of some old players. that is easily fixed with the introduction of a manager.

I listened to Mitch on talkback the other day, it was interesting seeing why he got rid of Andrew Martin.

Martin is a shit stirring busybody...who tried to muscle in on the rugby side of the allblacks...whereas he should of staye don the operations side.

Mitch has said he would like a manager, but as long as there are clear defining lines between rugby coaching and operations.


thats all the power he wanted.....to coach his team.


Does anyone know what time they are making the annoucment

Late this afternoon I believe Damien. I pick Graham Henry

Mitchell must go. Make way for Henry.

I think there's alot of shit that went down at the world cup, that players are to scared to talk about in case Mitchell is coach again.........

Henry for coach, then we'll find out the nitty gritty of a world cup campain that went off the rails again

The negativity towards mitchell is in many ways worse than for John Hart. With Hart it was a real kneejerk reaction, the feelings against Mitchell I think go deeper, from the players, administrators, media, sponsors. The reality is that for Mitchell to be reappointed he will have to relinquish a lot of control and do what he is told by the nzrfu more. He won't respond to that well at all. What we would end up with is a battle between the coach and the union and you can kiss goodbye to the next world cup. For that reason it has to be Henry.

righto...I just had lunch with one of the major sponsors of the ABS



Mitchell is out.


the term that was loosley used was......C*nt........seems thats what most people think of him.


well well

Yes Ive heard similair comments from "those in the know", not so much sponsors but rugby people

Mitchell is unpopular and basically fucked, his only hope was to bring home the cup

yeah I've heard 2nd hand murmerings direct from the NZRU... basically nobody there likes him

This board didn't appoint him in the first place, so his chances are pretty slim really

He said do it my way & it all came unstuck

I think having this new manager that will have a lot of say in things, will help us reach a new level of professionalism again, as we have slipped behind England & Aussie as of late, on & off the Field

word on the street in Wellington

Henry is still here

Mitchell is back in Hamilton