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Henry wary of semi 'hype'

Auckland - New Zealand coach Graham Henry said on Monday stressing the importance of this weekend's Rugby World Cup semi-final to his All Black players too soon could damage their chances of winning the tournament.

The All Blacks, without a world title since their success in the inaugural 1987 edition, face a monumental showdown with the Wallabies at Eden Park on Sunday in one of the games of the tournament.

Henry, who has an extraordinary 85 percent success rate in his 101 Tests in over seven years as All Blacks coach, said it was important for his players to 'come down' from the physically demanding 33-10 win over Argentina in Sunday's quarter-final.

The shrewd former Wales and British and Irish Lions mentor said it would be counter-productive to start talking to his players about what they will face to win their way into the October 23 final.

"The guys have got to come off the weekend, come down from that and start building again and if you start talking about this weekend coming now they are going to be buggered by about Thursday," Henry said.

"I just think it's important that it's done systematically and gradually and we build again for Sunday's game.

"It's very important to give the players some space a bit and relax, come down and get a bit of sleep and recover and then start building again, say Wednesday, Thursday.

"So talking to the boys about the importance of what they face right now I think would be a negative."

New Zealand have developed a jittery habit of bombing out of World Cups since their initial triumph on home soil 24 years and twice they have been eliminated at the semi-final stage by their trans-Tasman foes Australia, in 1991 and 2003.

"Australia are a very good rugby side, they have some very talented players, they play real well," Henry said.

"I think the nature of rugby changes a wee bit in finals' football when the result is you can 'die' if you lose and that probably makes both sides a wee bit more conservative in the game they play.

"So they don't chance their arm as much as they normally would do.

"Like the South African situation at the weekend where they turned the ball over under their sticks (goalposts) and Australia scored a try there and you just try to avoid those situations which can result in winning or losing.

"So I think it will be a pretty careful approach on Sunday."

Henry, who coached Wales in 34 Tests for 20 wins from 1998-2002, said he hasn't thought about what is playing out on the other side of the World Cup draw.

The Welsh are bidding for only their second World Cup semi-final appearance against twice finalists France at Eden Park on Saturday.

"Hell, I haven't thought about the other side of the draw, I'm just trying to stay alive on this side of the draw," he said.

"(But) I've been very impressed with Wales, they've played some good football and they have got some very good young players and they'll play the French, and you just don't know how they are going to turn up."

* Click HERE for the latest RWC odds on BET.CO.ZA

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