Sir Graham Henry has shed more light on how the All Blacks are responding to their Greatest Rivalry series defeat to the Springboks.

The former head coach has returned to the All Blacks camp in a selector role under Dave Rennie in 2026, spending time with the squad in their New Zealand-based weeks. Catching up with the group during the recent Bledisloe Cup series, which the Kiwis won comfortably, Henry saw some changes from how the group operated before they left for South Africa.

While the All Blacks won their opening games against South Africa’s URC teams and the first Test against the Springboks, they ended the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour with three straight losses and watched Siya Kolisi lift the RGR Trophy.

Rennie has been heavily emphasising the value of the lessons learned on the seven-week tour, and Henry shared his perspective on them this week in a sit-down interview with Martin Devlin.

“Oh, they’ve learnt a huge amount from the South African tour. Probably the biggest thing they’ve learnt is that they have to practice with the intensity and physicality that they play with,” Henry explained on DSPN.

“And there are some excuses there because between the first and second Tests there was the Lions fixture in Johannesburg on the Tuesday. So it wasn’t ideal preparation for the second Test because it was interfered with, for want of a better word, by the Lions game.

“And so I think the big thing is the boys now realise they’ve got to train, some of the time, at the same intensity that they play the game. That’s physicality. It’s speed. And it leaves you vulnerable; we’re losing the odd guy at training through injury, which is very irritating.

“And quite frankly, I don’t think they do it at any other level. So it’s a new experience for these guys… and I think that’s been a massive change.

“The other thing I think, and it takes time, is the decision-makers, the guys who run the game on the field and the coaches who coach the game getting tighter and tighter, and I think they’re getting tighter and tighter. It’s a new group of coaches, not necessarily a new group of players, but they’ve got closer and are communicating better and understand each other better.

“I’ve been massively impressed by the group. They make me feel welcome. I feel very privileged to be there. I’ve just been blown away by the quality of the individuals in that group, right through.”

Beyond the training intensity, Henry says the All Blacks’ fitness levels need to keep improving. Rennie has openly beaten that drum consistently in 2026, knowing the style of game he wants to achieve in time for next year’s Rugby World Cup is fast and furious.

“Now, our fitness levels weren’t high enough,” Henry added. “Well, not for the game that we want to play. The game we’re playing is very demanding, physically; they’re running the whole time. What was it, 50-odd minutes of ball-in-play time (in the last Bledisloe Test)? Usually it’s early 30s.

“This is amazing what this team’s trying to do, but it takes its toll, and you’ve got to be bloody fit. I’m not saying they were unfit, but to play the game that Dave Rennie and the coaches want to play, you’ve got to be massively aerobically fit, as well as strong and so on. So the strength and conditioning is massive.”