Henry rules himself out of England post

by Thomas Rooney | New Zealand World Cup winning coach Graham Henry has officially revealed that he will not succeed Martin Johnson as manager of England.

Henry was linked to the position after Johnson resigned last week, but despite having no more ties with New Zealand, he says that he England role is not for him.

Asked whether he could be the next coach of England, the 65-year-old simply replied: “No. I’m contracted to New Zealand until 31 March and I just want to move on.”

In terms of what he would be interesting in doing, Henry hinted that a role with a top European club would be of interest to him.

He continued: “I’ve been involved in a large number of Test matches – 142 – and if somebody wants me in this part of the world, I’d like perhaps to have an advisory role at a Heineken Cup team.”

“But I want to live in New Zealand, my family’s there and this is a different stage of my life that I want to enjoy.”

One European team that have been linked with Henry are Cardiff Blues, however they have since denied that they will be making a move for him.

Chairman Peter Thomas said last month: “There has been no discussion whatsoever for Graham Henry to come and coach the Cardiff Blues.
I know he is coming to the UK in the near future and I’m sure he’ll spend some time in Wales and if the opportunity arises I would be delighted for him to visit and have a look at the Cardiff Blues set-up. But there is no thought whatsoever on Graham Henry coming to coach the Cardiff Blues.”

It may still remain clear as to who England’s coach will be, but one man hoping that whoever it is gives him a chance is Danny Cipriani. The fly-half hasn’t played for his country since November 2008 and he has recently spoken of his desire to be involved with England again.

He said: “I don’t want to give anyone an excuse not to pick me and I still have aspirations to be the no. 1 fly-half in England by the time of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.”

“I don’t even want to think about whether I’ll have a clean sheet with the new coach or not. I think my non-selection before was purely for rugby reasons. I have matured and I have learned to accept my responsibility.”

If he does make it to the Rugby World Cup in 2015, who knows, he might try a bit of texas hold em on the plane to relax him ahead of performing on the biggest stage of all.