The Rugby World Cup: Guide us, thou great redeemer

The Coach: Graham Henry of Wales

FOR COUNTRIES that are on opposite ends of the earth, Wales and New Zealand have a lot in common, like a national obsession with rugby, populations that are outnumbered by sheep and Graham Henry.

The latter has not only become the first coach to straddle the Cook Strait and the River Severn but has managed to do so without getting his feet wet. In New Zealand, where he ran an Auckland side who were so powerful they could have taken on most countries, they call him King Henry. In Wales, where they had so thoroughly lost the plot that, until a season ago, they would have been no match for a New Zealand provincial side, let alone the All Blacks, they describe him as the Redeemer.

New Zealand may have suffered the odd setback but have never taken their eye off the ball. Wales' decline, on the other hand, was so deep rooted they looked as if they were pushing up daisies. When the optimist arrived from the Land of the Long White Cloud, he found the Welsh huddled beneath a sky as black as anthracite and, lo and behold, led them to the bright light on the high ground.

The stage now seems set for the parable to take on almost biblical proportions. In the heart of Cardiff, the Millennium Stadium (eat your heart out, Auckland) is ready for its first full unveiling at the start of the fourth World Cup. Shirley Bassey and the choirs are primed to raise its retractable roof and, with perfect timing, there are those who believe that Wales will not only acquit themselves well but go all the way following the almost miraculous conversion.

The paradox, however, is that the one man who insists Wales are incapable of scaling the ultimate peak is Henry. He has said it before and he is saying it now. "Wales will not win the World Cup because we are not good enough," he confirmed after his adopted squad returned from Portugal on Wednesday, their third training camp. "I am sure we will give it everything but there are five or six countries better than us."

Since finishing the Five Nations as high as a kite after improbable one- point victories over France in Paris and England at Wembley, Wales have continued to climb, enabling the rejuvenated captain Robert Howley to reel off eight successive victories. Is Henry being unduly cautious? "I am being realistic and honest," he replied. "It's not very enjoyable when you're getting beaten all the time, so we have made some progress. A few wins have created confidence and lifted the spirits. People think there is no longer a gulf between the southern and northern hemispheres. I won't know the answer to that until after the World Cup. What I do know is that our biggest problem is that the competitions we play in are inferior to the southern hemisphere's, and until it changes that is always going to put us behind the eight ball."

Unlike some of his Welsh predecessors who rarely ventured across the Severn Bridge, Henry is displaying a vampire-like thirst in his search for Welsh blood. Not content with signing Jason Jones-Hughes from the land of Oz to the land of his father, Henry, draped in a Welsh flag, has been appearing in adverts in an Australian rugby magazine asking players to check their family tree for any evidence that a forefather might have set sail from Cardiff docks and alighted anywhere where the code of William Webb Ellis had taken route.

The Taffia have not just been at work in Australia. "With the exception of places like Greenland and Switzerland we will advertise all round the world," Henry said. "We are trying to build a network of players who are eligible for Wales. Some might be of sufficient standard to play club rugby and occasionally we will get a future international. We have been very open about it. We've not tried to hide anything."

The reaction of John O'Neill, the chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, to this enterprise was: "They are absolute shockers." Do not mention the Jones-Hughes saga to Henry. "I am sick and tired of it. He's an absolutely superb young man and, of course, Welsh to the core."

Henry has not lost his sense of humour. Nor his eye for talent. His recruitment of Peter Rogers, a hard- nut South African who was playing for London Irish, transformed the Welsh front row from a unit that had one gear - reverse - into one of the strongest in world rugby. But he has also worked wonders with Welshmen who were going nowhere, like Garin Jenkins and Chris Wyatt.

Henry signed a five-year contract with the WRU - initially he thought it would be for 18 months - when he realised he wasn't going to get the All Blacks job. It had been said that Auckland were so good a monkey could have coached them.

"I wanted to prove I wasn't a monkey," Henry said. His impact in Wales is such that he is being the subject of two exhaustive TV documentaries. When he recently returned to New Zealand, to mix business with pleasure, he bumped into the All Blacks' coach, John Hart, in a hotel in Dunedin, just before the New Zealand-South Africa match in the Tri-Nations. Henry admits he would still like Hart's job. "One day I'd like to coach the All Blacks but I'll see my time out with Wales first, unless of course they kick me out."

The WRU have been accused of many things but even they wouldn't be careless enough to lose the Redeemer. "I received a lot of interest and support in New Zealand," Henry added. "I didn't meet a single person who had a negative view about my decision. Some New Zealanders even said they were going to support Wales in the World Cup."

Despite his conviction that Wales haven't got what it takes (they certainly don't have the strength in depth of others but on the other hand they have Neil Jenkins, the world's finest marksman). He acknowledges that the headway made by the team has been more rapid and more substantial than "a few wins".

His contract takes him up to the end of the next World Cup in 2003 and that was the one he and the WRU targeted as part of their long-term goal. Wales have got better and stronger, though, and whenever Henry has asked them to go up another notch they've managed it. Howley and Co have complete faith in Henry and the fitness coach, Steve Black, another inspired choice, even if it doesn't appear to be reciprocated.

If you were a betting man, Henry was asked, who would you put your money on to win the World Cup? "I don't know. England maybe, the All Blacks, Australia or South Africa. Although New Zealand won the Tri-Nations their defeat by Australia in Sydney would have been just what they needed to put them back on focus. The Springboks seem to have lost their way a bit and have lost a lot of players, but they'll show huge tenacity in defending the cup."

Wales? "No way, but I guarantee we'll give it our best shot." The thing is nobody, not even Henry, is certain of the precise calibre of that shot.