He certainly does seem to have a mighty high opinion of himself as if the All Black staff should use him as their personal advisor and take all his recommendations. And he won't win any goodwill from the NZRU writing this sort of piece.

The thing is, every second flamin' article about rugby in the NZ media at the moment is bagging the competition, bagging the coaches, bagging the laws, bagging the fans etc etc etc...

- The NZRU are dealing with serious challenges on all fronts, they don't need media cheerleaders, but some even handed reporting wouldn't be a bad idea now would it?

- We have just won the Super 14 and had 4 out of 5 teams in the top half of the comp... but all you hear about from the media is "get rid of the Highlanders franchise".

- The ELVs have provided us with more tries, some great talking points and plenty of interest... but all you hear about is ridiculous pieces like the one in the Herlad inaccurately explaining the offside at tackle law with a completely incorrect diagram.

- The coaches have a bloody incredible win record, and never "asked to be judged on the World Cup" so how can the media report that this is the case?

- The Quarter Final was only lost by a few points ffs, we made 2 drop goal attempts, played a reasonable game plan were unlucky with injury, there is absolutely no way it is entirely the coach's fault, yet the media report that it is, and that we do't kick enough drop goals!

- As a percentage of our population, in what is a bad economic climate, the attendance at rugby this year hasn't been too bad especially considering the media beat ups.

- As far as I'm concerned opinion pieces in a major newspaper should still be backed up by facts, rather than anecdotes.

Where is the accountability of the media in all of this?

Where are the positive reports talking about the action the NZRU have made to try and get more people along to the rugby?

The NZRU have added more pre-match and half-time entertainment, created a new website for the Super 14, brought in food sales people in the aisles at matches, allowed TV cameras into the changing rooms pre-game and at half-time, made players available for interviews as soon as the final whistle goes, yet all we hear is negative shit from an unaccountable media who have ceased to report and instead simply write about their south african mate's opinions. Fuck that.

Personally I am as worried as anyone about the exodus of players, the creeping threat of friendlies, the risk of losing to Ireland for the first time ever, so let's hear some analysis, suggestions, facts instead of a whinging media bitch screaming that he doesn't like the coach and can't support OUR great national team because of this.

If these journos do reckon they know better than Henry and co. let's hear some opinion pieces suggesting how we should be playing or who we should be selecting rather than just using their 20/20 hindsight to bag every mistake after the horse has bolted.

The shocking reporting about the offside tackle law and this whinging dickhead have pushed me to the point that I will never buy the Herald again.