ABs meet all their tour objectives

New Zealand coach Graham Henry gave his crop of All Blacks a collective pat on the back after they finished their year-end tour of Europe unbeaten - signing off with an emphatic seven-try 47-19 win over a star-studded Barbarians side at Twickenham on Saturday.

The win over the Baa-baas brings to a close a trip which has included Test wins over Italy, Wales and France.

Henry was happy that all the objective of the tour had been achieved, and was particularly please that his younger charges had stepped up to the mark. 

"We are delighted we have 31 guys who played well on this tour," said Henry.

"We had a lot of depth; they enjoyed the tour; they were jumping out of their skin, and that is a good foundation for next year.

"It was a quality opposition today, a very experienced Barbarians side with Test players with a lot of caps.

"They put our young guys under pressure - and they handled that. A lot of young guys will be better for the experience. They all played well. I think they have learned from the older players in the team.

"We came here with an objective to play better rugby, to build a greater foundation with players competing for one position - and that has been done."

Henry allowed himself a peek down the track, touching briefly on next year's eagerly anticipated visit of the British and Irish Lions to New Zealand.

Henry took charge of the Lions tour to Australia in 2001 and will be in the unique position of coaching New Zealand against the tourists in 2005.

"I don't think New Zealanders will understand what a Lions tour is about until it hits them," he said.

"There will be 20,000 tourists who will follow the Lions. It will be huge for the country, and I am sure it will be an outstanding contest.

"I am pretty keen. It's unusual to have been involved in both teams. I think it's going to be huge rugby contest and great for the game."