RUGBY IS often said to be the heartbeat of New Zealand, and it badly needed a restorative pick-me-up in wet and windy Wellington on Saturday night. Not since the divisiveness of the rebel tours in the 1980s had the game been at a such a low ebb here. The prevailing mood is a mixture of anger and despair, amid some loyalty of course, and that much was evident in the rows of empty yellow seats that made a complete mockery of the official 32,000-plus attendance.
Henry was spared the fate of his predecessors even though the mistakes, in selection especially, were arguably even more pronounced than any made by John Mitchell or John Hart. His reluctance to fall on his sword, his continuing power and the NZRU's faith in him have not been in any way smoothed by Robbie Deans heading off into the Australian sunset with another Super 14 notch on his belt.
It's as if Declan Kidney, in the midst of the recent post-World Cup disillusion in Ireland, had taken over in England. But at least Irish supporters packed out Croke Park for three Six Nations games, if hardly raising a desultory yawn along the way.
Supposedly as with Eddie O'Sullivan, but in actual fact even more so, Henry's strength is the lack of viable replacements; all the more so with Deans having been contracted through to the next World Cup with another country, à la Warren Gatland.
Given the exodus of so many leading players - because the NZRU, having taken on the 2011 World Cup finals, cannot afford them - Henry and co can do no more than ride this one out. Viewed in all of this, the 21-11 win over Ireland was no more than a stay of execution, room for breathing space if nothing else.
As long as Richie McCaw and Dan Carter remain, then so too does hope, although in so much as one can tell with the enigmatic Carter, he appears to be going through a relative period of crisis, pending confirmation of his impending six-month sabbatical, where it looks as if he'll be linking up with Jerry Collins.
That said, he and his team-mates will take comfort from how they toughed this win out in advance of back-to-back meetings with England that will also be revealing as a contrast from an Irish perspective.
"Yeah, it is a good start," he said. "Obviously a lot of new faces and we're still coming together as a team and to really have to fight hard and grit our teeth at times and play some tight and tense rugby - it's important to know that we can do that and come away with a result. It's a start and hopefully we can only get better."
Of his own performance, he said, "It's not too bad. Obviously it was pretty tough with the conditions. It was about playing territory . . . I guess at times we did that. Obviously there were a few mistakes that I made out there, which was pretty disappointing, but hopefully I'll just keep working on my game and improve."
The break in the build-up to the decisive Ma'a Nonu try was a glimpse of a vintage Carter that had been dormant, and as he admits, he loves to run: "I feel like I'm playing my best when I'm backing my instincts and I guess when I'm recognising those opportunities. It's something I'd like to bring back into my game."
As to why it's not been there, he smiled: "I'm not too sure."
Conrad Smith admitted the All Blacks were far from perfectly primed, and perhaps there were nerves in the opening quarter.
"It would be fair to say, given the week, we were aware it was a big challenge to come here. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we were training - trying to get things right when you pull a side together from five different teams. But it was not really until Thursday or Friday that we were a team. We were a little cautious and obviously the Irish were always going to be a stiff challenge. I don't know whether it was nerves or not but we were pretty cautious about the game."
Henry and Steve Hansen have plaintively asked, "When will this stop?" in relation to the constant harping back to the World Cup. Yet in almost the same breath Henry cites the extraordinary expectations in New Zealand is one of the game's strengths.
Perhaps, but is it now becoming an all-consuming weakness? Come 2011 on home soil, there may well be a knock-out tie that will be as finely balanced nearing the hour as this Test was here. Given the heightened expectations after another failure, who on earth would swap places with the 15 men in black at that juncture?
