A perfect campaign - except we lost | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

In Passchendaele week, the image of Field-Marshall Haig aloofly surveying the carnage of the trenches came irresistibly to mind if you were there for Graham Henry's monologue on arrival at Harewood.

The media was treated to a 15min discourse by the All Black coach which seemed as detached from the reality of what happened in Cardiff as Haig in his war room pondering where his infantry had gone.

The schoolmaster and the PR-groomed coach blended in a speech that, regrettably, gave no real hint that le grand fromage is going to bow out with grace.

We heard again (pre-Howlett and the Heathrow Hilton, of course) what "an exceptional group of guys" he had.

And that "they didn't get the bounce of the ball & disappointed but no embarrassment & they've achieved something that's very special & I'm totally comfortable with the strategies & 42 out of 48 & win/loss results far superior to any other team in the world & we feel the strategies we put in place were the right ones to win the World Cup."

And praise lavished on every member of the entourage down to the NZRU's lawyer and ABs' media man.

But Graham, Graham - it's all been about actually winning the World Cup. Not finishing fifth-equal.

The media session got positively surreal when someone facetiously asked the coach if the players would be offered counselling.

"Men cuddling men is not a pretty sight," said Henry.

But (and I warn old rugby diehards to stop reading at this point), Brian Lochore - yes, the granite veteran of those bare knuckle days of 60s test rugby - chimed in to disagree: "It is a pretty sight because these guys care about each other & they've taken it on board together."

So the ABs are in touch with their feminine side. However, if we're going to win what Henry describes as "the little yellow cup" here in four years' time, we need a bit more intense focus on the traditional masculine.

But first we have to wait for Henry to come out of denial and do the honourable thing, so someone new can get us on course for 2011.