All Blacks lacked mental strength

CHRISTCHURCH – All Blacks coach Graham Henry said yesterday his side lacked the mental strength to beat Australia in their rugby Test last month, as the World Cup favourites again face accusations of choking.

The team “just weren’t right there” mentally and paid the price with a 15-20 loss, Henry said as he sought a major improvement in next Saturday’s Tri-Nations Test here against South Africa. In a frank analysis of where the All Blacks are with two months to go until the World Cup, Henry said some of his players were not mentally equipped to deal with hungrier opponents in the Australia Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.”I think we were off the pace.I don’t think we’ve played insufficient football to be off the pace, we just weren’t right there,” Henry said.”If you’ve got a side sitting in Melbourne for two weeks waiting for you and you’ve been to South Africa and coming back to play, you can’t afford to be 85-90 (percent).You’ve got to be 100, and we weren’t.”No excuses, we just have to take it on the chin and move on.”As Henry announced seven changes to his run-on side to play the Springboks, he wondered whether some players’ focus might already have switched to the World Cup.Nampa-AFPIn a frank analysis of where the All Blacks are with two months to go until the World Cup, Henry said some of his players were not mentally equipped to deal with hungrier opponents in the Australia Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.”I think we were off the pace.I don’t think we’ve played insufficient football to be off the pace, we just weren’t right there,” Henry said.”If you’ve got a side sitting in Melbourne for two weeks waiting for you and you’ve been to South Africa and coming back to play, you can’t afford to be 85-90 (percent).You’ve got to be 100, and we weren’t.”No excuses, we just have to take it on the chin and move on.”As Henry announced seven changes to his run-on side to play the Springboks, he wondered whether some players’ focus might already have switched to the World Cup.Nampa-AFP