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'Special day, special team'

All Blacks coach Graham Henry was quick to summarise his side's 32-12 win over South Africa at Eden Park in Auckland as one of the better days of Test rugby.

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Sportal.co.nz

All Blacks coach Graham Henry was quick to summarise his side's 32-12 win over South Africa at Eden Park in Auckland as one of the better days of Test rugby.

Henry said: "It was a pretty special day for the team and a pretty special day for All Blacks rugby."

He didn't want to single out individuals but he felt Mils Muliaina had one of his best games as fullback.

"He had a lot of doubts with the injuries he suffered during the Super 14 but I haven't seen him play better for the All Blacks," he said.

"Kevey [Mealamu] keeps getting better, Woody [Tony Woodcock] had one of his best games for a long time and Brad Thorn is like a good wine."

Henry added that the side's skipper Richie McCaw had set the standard with another fine performance and lock Tom Donnelly had a big game.

Henry said he was especially pleased with the set pieces at the scrum and lineouts and congratulated forwards coach Steve Hansen for his work in that area.

The edge had been created by last year's 3-0 loss to South Africa.

"The attitude was outstanding and the preparation put things in action but the backbone of the win was the attitude," he said.

McCaw said the All Blacks did not let the Springboks off the hook and that had been the pleasing feature of the win.

"When you put the pressure on at the set piece it gets you going well. We wanted to make sure we advanced on our effort at Marseille [at the end of last year]. It's the bench mark now [in Auckland] and there's no going backwards.

"The things that worked tonight didn't happen by chance, they happened because of hard work. And there is a fair bit of resolve that we keep improving," he said.

Forwards coach Steve Hansen said several people had been waiting a long time to play this Test match, and a lot of thought had gone into it from a lot of people. The All Blacks had secured some good ball to set a good foundation while the All Blacks had made the Springbok platform wobbly.

McCaw said compared to other years it felt like the public was really behind the team, he said.

"Over the next 12-15 months it is going to be pretty critical to the team to have those people behind us," he said.

The game had been in the backs of the minds of McCaw and Brad Thorn, he said.

Backs coach Wayne Smith said it had been good for the young players in the side to be part of a win like that achieved so they could see what it took to get up to that sort of level of performance.

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