Butler: Right time to resign

Henry had plenty of help but Wales still struggled

BBC Wales pundit and former Wales international Eddie Butler says that Graham Henry had lost his way as Wales coach and it was time he stood down.

I thought Graham Henry might have gone on the Sunday night after the defeat to Ireland, but having had a couple of days to survive the storm I thought he was going to stay.

In the overall scheme of things I think it is no surprise, but what does surprise me is that everybody is now heaping a lot of blame on the Welsh Rugby Union.

It's always struck me that Graham Henry basically got what he wanted from the Union.

I think the headmaster in Henry took over from the adventurer

Eddie Butler

Although the governance of the game in Wales is pretty feeble, I don't think they ever stood in Henry's way - he always got what he wanted.

That raises the issue of who really is to blame for the debacle that is Welsh rugby at the moment.

Whereas everybody else sees it as an overall weakness in the Welsh game, I'm afraid I put rather more blame at the door of Graham Henry the coach.

I think the Graham Henry who resigned wasn't the same Graham Henry who arrived in Wales in August 1998.

He arrived here, threw himself into the task of learning about international rugby and going on a great adventure, and taking the players with him.

He was fully involved with the players; he scoured Wales from top to bottom for ideas; he talked to people - that was the key element.

I'm not sure when it happened but he began to change and the Henry we've come to know in the past couple of years - and certainly the one who came home from the Lions tour - was very much more introspective and much more isolated from his squads.

I think the headmaster in Henry took over from the adventurer, and certainly he became obsessed with this highly structured, mechanical game.

Steve Hansen will take over for the moment

He was slowing down the game when players need to adapt to the speed of international rugby.

His teams could not cope playing his way and the squad and coach became divorced.

Word from New Zealand was that Henry's man-management was never very good. I think the Graham Henry who arrived in 1998 made a supreme effort to alter his own man-management style and for a time he managed to suppress his true character.

On the tactical front, he was blessed in Auckland with a magnificent squad of players but they did have a structure. He brought that template over to Wales, put it on the Wales team and it did help.

The forwards were given a shape and a pattern, there was an urgency to the play.

Henry had Neil Jenkins lying a lot flatter and distributing really well, while Scott Gibbs was in his pomp, driving up the midfield.

It certainly worked but the game moves very quickly and once other coaches knew what the Graham Henry style was, they combatted it very successfully.

I don't think Henry ever found a new vision.

We have to be very careful about choosing his successor, but Steve Hansen should be given free rein to do it for the moment. He must also be given a fair chance.

Steve Hansen should be given up to the 2003 World Cup

Eddie Butler

He's in place, the players know him, I understand they get on very well with him, and he's a better one-on-one communicator than Henry.

Hansen is recently out of a new school of New Zealand coaching - Canterbury is a different culture from Auckland.

In the long term I think we have to be wary of going outside Wales, if only because it seems Wales are difficult to coach.

You have to understand the sporting mentality of the rugby player here to have a chance.

Steve Hansen should be given up to the 2003 World Cup to run the Wales team, after that we should be looking at Gareth Jenkins.

That would give him a chance to finish his own personal voyage with Llanelli, and give him a chance to negotiate his own terms and get his own team in place.

A special programme looking back at Graham Henry's Wales career, The Great Redeemer no more, will be broadcast on BBC1 Wales on Thursday night, 2030-2100 GMT.

Eddie will host a live online chat on the Scrum V website straight after the programme - click here.