Plotting a different road map

When the Lions arrive in New Zealand at the end of the month to prepare for three Tests in a country where they have only once won a series, it will not only be about rugby. It will be personal.

The Lions' head coach Clive Woodward wasted no time when he was given the job last year in rubbishing the efforts of his predecessor on the 2001 tour to Australia, a series the Lions lost 2-1, in contention to the end despite a spate of injuries.

That predecessor was Graham Henry, the New Zealander who was then coaching Wales but who is now in charge of the All Blacks, a position he was this month confirmed in until the 2007 World Cup. The rivalry between the two men started in 1999 when Wales pipped England at Wembley to deny Woodward his first grand slam, something he was to wait another four years to fulfil. And there was no disguising Woodward's disgust when Henry was appointed the Lions' coach in 2000, over the Englishman's head.

Despite the closeness of the result in 2001, Henry returned to Wales with his reputation tattered and he never recovered. He went back to New Zealand in February 2002 after a poor run of results, 20 months before the end of his contract, and he is still uncomfortable talking about the tour in which some of the players, notably England's Matt Dawson (who will be in New Zealand) and Austin Healey, publicly criticised him and his methods.

"Let's not go down that bullshit road again," Henry said when asked about 2001. "It's all anyone in England seems to want to talk about. As far as the coming series is concerned I do not think my involvement on that tour will make any difference, although I do know what the Lions will be going through. Coaching the Lions is a huge challenge; everyone has to pull in the same direction and that was not the case in 2001.

"Australia was a marvellous experience for me, the best learning experience I ever had. I put my eggs into the Test basket and perhaps could have approached it differently by paying more attention to the midweek players, but it is water under the bridge now. There were some very good people on that tour, players and management, and there were a number of pluses. It showed how fine the line is between success and failure: the Wallabies were the world champions and we had an horrendous injury list going into the final Test, but we were still a late lineout win away from stealing the series."

When Woodward was appointed he said he would be taking at least 44 players, rather than the 37 four years ago, and would have two teams of coaches, one for Saturday and the other for midweek. He felt the key mistake in 2001 was to decide the likely Test team from the start, dashing the hopes of the bulk of the squad and provoking disunity. Pointedly referring to the remarks of some players on their return that they never wanted to go on another Lions tour, Woodward promised this year would be different.

"I am not surprised the Lions are bringing 45 players and a management team of more than 30," said Henry. "It was what we recommended in our report after the 2001 tour. We said the squad should be made up of two 22s and, I am pretty sure, called for two coaching teams. It seems they have taken our advice. The other important factor is Clive and Ian McGeechan (who heads the midweek team) are not in charge of national sides. It was probably the wrong decision for me to coach the Lions: some on the Welsh Rugby Union had better insight because they opposed the appointment. I know now I took on too much."

Some commentators have predicted New Zealand will win the series 3-0 because of the overall lack of quality in this year's Six Nations and the manner in which the All Blacks demolished France in Paris last November, but Henry is anticipating a close series.

"The first Test will be the key," he said. "We will go into it underdone, because our only warm-up Test is against Fiji, and the Lions will have been together for a month. The Lions will be extremely strong . . . I have heard it said they will play a nine-man game because Clive is in charge, but when you have backs of the quality of Brian O'Driscoll, Jason Robinson, Gareth Thomas and Gavin Henson you use them."

Although the All Blacks play with pace and width, there are questions over their tight five. One player regarded as a certainty to start the first Test, the Canterbury Crusaders secondrow Norm Maxwell, is due in court in Dunedin this week accused of molesting women and assaulting a doorman in a nightclub last weekend. A conviction might rule him out of the series.

"You'll have to wait and see when it comes to our tight five," said Henry. "It is an area we have been concentrating on and a lot of hard work has been put in. There is no question that how we measure up in that department will be a key feature of the series. The Lions are especially strong in the secondrow."

Henry's assistants, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, also have much experience of the British game, having spent time this decade in charge of Wales and Northampton respectively. Henry and Hansen watched Wales's grand slam match against Ireland in March together in Auckland.

"We had a champagne breakfast with some Welsh friends," said Henry. "I enjoyed watching Wales and still feel an emotional involvement. They played the best rugby in the Six Nations and they carried on the work started by Steve. We both said during our time there that Wales would only become a force again when they embraced regionalism, and that has happened."

Henson made his name in the centre having been first capped under Henry in 2001 before slipping back into obscurity. "He was going through a maturing process then," said Henry. "There was never any question about his ability and he has now got the bits and pieces together. He was a young guy and it was always going to take time.

"The All Blacks will be in Wales next November, 100 years after the first Test between the countries ended in controversy. Our players are well aware of the significance of the game. This is going to be the toughest year in the history of New Zealand rugby, with the Lions followed by the Tri-Nations and a grand slam tour. I feel very humble to be involved in the series four years on. "