Why I suspected match fixing in THAT French game - Graham Henry
Former All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry has opened up - a little - on his 2007 World Cup quarter final match fixing claims.
Sir Graham says his suspicions of match fixing in the game against France which saw New Zealand out of the tournament were not picked by other people because he analysed the game more closely.
He makes the controversial claims in his recently-released biography, Final Word.
He told NBR ONLINE the number of penalties against France missed by referee Wayne Barnes was "astounding."
"My reaction was, 'there's something untoward going on here, there's match fixing or sports betting, perhaps'."
However, he kept that close to his chest because the view wasn't shared by others.
"I talked to the NZRU and I talked to some IRB people, and their decision was they didn't want to go down there."
Sir Graham says he saw what others didn't because he had a different frame of reference.
"I was the coach of the All Blacks and I was going to look at it pretty bloody seriously, and dissect it totally.
"Everybody else's reaction is quite different, because they don't do that.
"They know there was some refereeing errors in the game, and they were well documented at the time, but they don't analyse the game like I analyse the game because that's my job."
Some members of the sports media, such as veteran Newstalk ZB host Murray Deaker, suggested Sir Graham only put these claims in his recently published autobiography to sell more copies.
Sir Graham rejects this.
"It's bloody rubbish. I put those things in the book because they were real.
"That's how I felt. It's a true, black and white account."
He says this is the first time the claims have been made public.
So why didn't he raise it earlier?
"The reason I didn't bring it out more vocally at the time was that I hadn't analysed the game properly.
"I thought we had the rough end of the stick pretty badly, but I didn't think there was any point in raising it."
He just said, "well, we didn't play as well as expected and we didn't get the bounce of the ball.
"I kept repeating that statement until I was awarded the World Fair Play Award, for the way the All Blacks handled the quarter final."
Back to home
Back to top
Print
Latest
NBR SERVICES
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Sign up for NBR subscriber content or email alerts
Comments and questions34
The traitor to NZ in all this is Paddy O'Brien - sucking up to the IRB to keep his position rather than do the right thing and reviewed the refereeing properly. Paddy will always carry the stench of being a lapdog and sucker of the IRB - something he will regret to his deathbed.
graham henry spent millions winning the world cup once out of 2 attempts.players wages alone would have been approaching the 50 million mark for 8 years.
was it worth it ?
NO
The olympics are far better value.
Henry is a cry baby
Henry is stating his honest opinion and those who criticise him should have a look at their own agendas and biases.
liberte
Actually Henry is reporting what his opinion at the time was. He hasn't said what he thinks now.
Bit late to bitch and moan now - years after the fact. We do we do this here, rather than try to correct things the moment they become apparent?
If there was any fixing done it must have involved someone getting the All Blacks to play like a bunch of clueless robots for the last 25 minutes of the game.
That looked like what was happening to me and millions of others. If there's going to be any "analysis" 5 years after the event maybe that is where it should start.
I suggest Sir Graham gets back to his glass of wine and reading material. This sort of cr*p is not worthy of him.
If Sir Graham has been quiet in the aftermath of the game, it is fair enough to tell him to shut up now. He approached the IRB and NZRU at that time and they did nothing.
The statistics were profound :
ABs had 73 per cent territorial advantage, winning 166 rucks to France's 42 and making only 73 tackles compared with France's 331.
And Wayne Barnes awarded only 2 (yes, two) penalties against the French.
Gee whiz, what an incredibly disciplined team the french were!
It would have been simple enough to look at the odds offered at that time for the French to win and trace it back to who were being those bets.
Match fixing happens - look at cricket and how match-fixing has been uncovered.
It is such a horrendous shame that the IRB and NZRU, in the face of such overwhelming information - chose to do nothing.
Question is : Who were they protecting???
Who in this country takes the slightest little bit of notice of the self indulgent radio host, I for one stopped all contact with his efforts the night he took to Mr Ken Laban on live TV, it was absolutely stunning, he should have lost his job that night, what a jack up his efforts are!! he should be back School teaching certainly out of the public arena.
Stick to your guns GH something was going on, as nobody could be that incompetant, there is match fixing going on every week, check out some of the Auck Fox memorial results over the weeks gone by, not to mention the NRL week in week out.
THAT game will never be forgotten, just like THAT Welsh test and more lately THAT dive out of the lineout.
Like THAT underarm "incident", they all deserve to be, and will be, forever remembered.
Unfortunately for Sir Graham, none of us would have listen to him back in 2007, such was our bitter disappointment. But with the success in winning the Web Ellis Trophy and the knighthood that followed, maybe it's time to hear what Sir Graham's thoughts were as he did what none of us would do, he watched and analysed the footage of that loss so that he could file his match report to the NZRU.
The quarter-final against France in 2007, the following are exerts form the book, Final Word. It's a GREAT read!
The All Blacks had dominated much of the game, enjoying an overwhelming 73% territorial advantage, winning 166 rucks to Frances 42 and making 73 tackles compared with Frances 331. But incredibly they had not been awarded a solitary penalty in the final 50 minutes; in fact, referee Barnes had penalized France only twice in the entire game.
All of the indicators pointed to the All Blacks wining by a substantial margin. Instead when Barnes blew the whistle for fulltime, after a less than distinguished performance which would soon be put under close scrutiny, the final score was France 20 New Zealand 18.
Every time Sir Grahams team had been defeated, he as All Blacks coach had gone to the winning teams dressing room to offer his congratulations. He hadn’t had to do that too often. Inside the French dressing room, Graham kept his comments brief. I just want to congratulate you on your victory today. You played well and deserved the win. I wish you well for your semi-final next weekend.’ As Graham was leaving the dressing room, one Frenchman, who appeared to be associated with the team in some capacity, shook Grahams hand and declared, ‘We got away with murder today!’
When Graham sat down to analyse the footage of this shocking result some days later, he could only stomach 50 minutes before making a dash to the toilet to throw up. Days later he would complete his play by play analysis whereby he concluded that although France had been awarded 10 penalties to New Zealand’s 2, the actual penalty count should have been up to 17 penalties awarded to New Zealand, of which 11 were in kickable positions.
The French were under siege for more than 70% of the game and kept blatantly infringing, without penalty, literally and figuratively. In the final quarter, the French threw their bodies at any part of the breakdown to halt the All Blacks momentum, blissfully secure in the knowledge they weren’t going to be penalized.
The referees performance was so questionable that those who could stomach watching the replay, play by play would have considered, as did Ted whether or not there was sports betting involved and would find it incomprehensible that the IRB did not have strategies in place to investigate bizarre matches and when it came to bizarre, this world Cup quarter-final was an absolute doozy.
Are Wayne Barnes and Paddy O'Brien related in any way?
Perhaps the AB's were paid to lose the game?
Just a thought toooooo.
Go back to last years World Cup pool games, and have a decent!!!! look at every game the French played, now how did they plot their way to the final, without MATCH FIXING their way to the final, they are as cunning as outhouse rats, and not a solitary word has been said about it, it is so blatantl;y obvious!!! go back and watch the replays you will be stunned!! and don't comment on it until you have watched every game.
The suggestion is NOT that the French were fixing the match, but that bookies and/or third parties were. In this case, the refereeing was so one sided that the suggestion is that Wayne Barnes was fixing the match. Paddy O'Brien and the IRB, in turn, could be in the fix as well for refusing to review the refereeing.
Remember Paddy's comments about Wayne Barnes?
"I thought the referee actually had a decent game. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but you can't turn back the clock. He's a superb referee and we have a lot of confidence in him, that's why we gave him the quarter-final. He's an outstanding individual as a person and it makes me sick to the stomach to hear some of the comments that have been made about him."
Either Paddy was blind, incompetent or he was part of the fix.
Well, that's the suggestion - in simple terms.
2nd half, Carter off first, Colins and more... Henry had no plan B in 2007. Playing overseas may be difficult for Mccaw to do his little cheats unnoticed for too long. And yes they were a better team than 2012! He is so lucky to have won with 1 point margin thu. What a 'mascarade' that Japan game! How easier can it be? to get through 1/4s. Tonga almost smashed them opening night in 2012. Finally, worst referee in 2012 was NZ, just a thought.
Graham Henry, maybe you should watch the ABs in detail and understand why it is Richie McCaw and others get away with being offside ALL THE TIME.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdr-W775hk4
either accept that referees sometimes have bad games, or clear your own house before complaining about others
THose who watched very closely Paddy ref in NZ are not surprised at the complications he created at The IRB.There is just no doubt he encouraged the refs in that World Cup to minimize penalties and keep the game rolling as that what he did here.Paddy himself was not good on detail,slow to the ball and arriving late chose authourity over rules when he was ever in doubt and that was far too often.I have always held a secret belief he took acting lessons as well.
Excellent observation.
Typical small timer made big time but could not live up to expectations - that's Paddy.
If Henry is right, then he is directly accusing Wayne Barnes of corrupt (rather than incompetent) behaviour.
How about a journalist asking Henry that question directly" Is Wayne Barnes corrupt and part of a match fixing scheme?"
Put up or shut up - you can't believe the match was fixed without directly accusing Wayne Barnes of corruption.
This is about Henry selling books, nothing else.
He has made the suggestion - there is no response from IRB, NZRU, Wayne Barnes or Paddy O'Brien.
I say - let them respond reasonably rather than hide behind the innuendoes they are putting out that it's book sales etc. It is a serious serious suggestion and there is no dignity in their silence - rather, it simply confirms them as the self serving, cowardly power and perk hungry individuals and organizations that everyone already know they are.
Sir Graham has made the accusation - do you want it spelt up in French, Welsh or Arabic?
Nobody is going to respond because nobody gives a toss about this. People in other parts of the world have more interesting things to do than whinge about a game of rugby 5 years ago.
To recap: this was a pathetic, cluelesss performance by the ABs who had plenty of possession and territory but lacked the brains to adjust their tactics (eg kick a few of the many drop goals they could have taken).
Sadly typical of NZ - can't stop whining even 5 years after the event. You guys should be grateful for an incredibly fortunate victory in the final last year.
But in the end, the All Blacks had 73% of the ball and still couldn't score enough points to win !
Not when you had the French infringing non-stop, slowing down and stopping the flow of play so the ABs could not score - and Wayne Barnes (ably supported by his mentor, Paddy O'Brien) awarding no penalties!
Do you honestly believe that the French was such a super-disciplined team that they did not infringe with such game statistics against them?
I thought, the match was definitely fixed. The ABs had the majority of possession and were camped in the French half for the last 30 mins -- and, still, they resisted the numerous opportunities of taking a drop-goal. Someone, should be auditing the ABs' bank accounts, including the coach's.
Makes a lot of sense.
In conjunction with auditing the bank accounts of Wayne Barnes, IRB and especially, Paddy.
Match fixing is all about betting big on the biggest odds - and you cannot get bigger than the red hot favorite ABs not getting into the semi-finals.
Who cares
Nobody had the balls to criticise before and now after the awards they now have got nothing to loose so lets blame someone..
But of course - who wants to suffer a premature termination by speaking out?
That's life.
But at least the accusation is now out in the open and the NZRU, IRB, Wayne Barnes and Paddy O'Brien are deafening silent in response. Guilt has a way of finding people out.
How can you say nobody? Grant Fox made it very clear during the game commentary that Wayne Barnes was "only refereeing one side".
Loser whining.
Yep - just like you.
One thing about this particular column, it actually shows you how many Richard Craniums actually read the NBR, I find that quite amazing to be honest.
Fact is this is an autobiography and good on Ted for stating it like he saw it! If he did not, he would not be relaying his true feelings. It was an odd match - there is not doubt about it. The French (in terms of penalties) shot from being one of the most undisciplined teams to being the most disciplined in history according the the stats - not very likely.
Good on you Ted for speaking up and stating your true feelings based on your analysis.
Some say sour grapes - not at all - he is merely saying what he felt like - or do we want everyone to be PC and just smile? The fact that he waited so long before saying anything shows that it is not sour grapes, merely reflecting his true feelings after analysis.
Move on...get over it
whinging , moaning is for the Poms,