Graham Henry may be doing his best to win back a judgmental New Zealand rugby public, but he briefly let his guard down when discussing his selection for the test against England at Eden Park on Saturday night. For just a glimmer of a moment the angry face returned.
It came when a question was asked, in the wake of a starting XV featuring just one injury-enforced change from the side that toppled Ireland 21-11 last Saturday night (Greg Somerville in for the crocked John Afoa at tighthead prop), about whether the rotation policy had been "shelved".
In a flash the haughty headmaster resurfaced, and the media were the errant schoolboys speaking out of turn. It didn't last long and soon the new friendly face of the All Black coach returned - the one trying desperately to win back a sceptical public - and everything was hunky-dory.
But clearly it's a sensitive subject for the second-term coach of the All Blacks. Along with the woefully-conceived reconditioning programme, his madcap rotation policy was blamed by many as one of the key reasons the All Blacks arrived at the business end of the last World Cup bereft of the form and confidence to get past a second-rate French outfit.
And now, with Henry's practice of radically changing his test lineup from week to week clearly on the outer (it is the least number of changes he has made in four and a-half years), that word had been raised. When it should have been erased. If looks could have killed.
Instead, as Henry scolded us all for the cheek of even mentioning the dreaded noun, Henry revealed that a new 'R' word had taken hold in the All Black dictionary. It is "Rebuilding".
"We always pick the best team, or the team, we think is going to win the game," said Henry, scowl briefly back on his face. "We're in a difficult situation. The team we had over the last four years had a lot of experience, had played a lot of test matches together - this team hasn't had a lot of experience, hasn't played a lot of test matches together.
"It's a totally different situation. It's got absolutely nothing to do with rotation. It's just the circumstances we're in," added Henry.
So there. But the subject wouldn't go away, with another reporter basically repeating the same question, dressed up in different livery. This time it was couched around a query over whether there had been a philosophy change on the selection front.
"We're rebuilding a side now, and you cannot rebuild by making a large number of changes," replied Henry, with self-control to the fore. "You build a side by being consistent in your selections initially."
Then just to make things easier for us all he explained the difference between this group and the one that was supposed to have peaked at the last World Cup.
"The other team was built over four years and we had to build depth over the last two of those four years.
"That was an advantage to the group, it produced competition for places, it looked after people so they were always pretty sharp."
Henry, to be fair, has been doing his best and clearly he faced a difficult week back with the All Blacks in Wellington when much of the antipathy over his reappointment at the expense of Robbie Deans resurfaced. For the most part he handled it all with equanimity, even ending the buildup to the opening test of the Iveco Series with a frank admission that he had been aware of the vitriol aimed his way but had been doing his best to ignore it.
And Henry knows better than anyone that it's a long healing process. That he is going to have to allow the New Zealand rugby public some time to forgive him for not going close to bringing back the World Cup, and his bosses for reappointing him at the expense of the popular Deans.
Anyway, selections like this will help. The public wants to see consistency in its All Black team from week to week, and Henry, for whatever reason, has delivered on that here.
He and his colleagues have recognised that this pack needs to be given time to forge its collective might, and that the backline likewise needs test matches to build the combinations that will make them an effective unit. So Andrew Hore stays as the starting hooker, Ali Williams and Brad Thorn run out again in the second row, and that experimental loose trio of Richie McCaw, Rodney So'oialo at blindside and Jerome Kaino at No 8 goes back into the Petri dish.
Likewise in the backline Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith deservedly get another test match to show their complementary skills can make up the midfield of the new era, Anthony Tuitavake a chance to showcase his special abilities in conditions hopefully more favourable for wingers and once again Mils Muliaina keeps the excellent Leon MacDonald on the bench.
The All Blacks lose nothing with the reintroduction of Somerville, the 30-year-old 57-test veteran stepping up to take on the colossus that is Andy Sheridan in the English front row.
"He is a very good scrummager," noted All Blacks forwards coach Steve Hansen of the English loosehead. "England have built their pack around him. But we've got a fairly grizzly old bloke there who's been around a long time in Greg Somerville. We've just got to scrum as an eight and make sure we front up at each scrum and do the business."
The only other change to the All Black 22 was on the bench where Sione Lauaki gets the nod this week at the expense of rookie Adam Thomson. It's a swap made with a definite plan in mind.
"We want to get Sione Lauaki out there at some stage," said Henry. "He's been on a pretty strong programme to get himself in great nick. We want to give him an opportunity to come off that programme and show his ability."
Hansen pointed out that the call was no reflection on test debutant Thomson who logged a handful of promising minutes off the bench last weekend.
"They bring a different skill set. Adam is a penetrating runner and offloader, Sione's more of a contact runner and offloader. For this game we feel Sione is probably going to come in and do that job."
Backs coach Wayne Smith said it was important that combinations like Nonu and Smith got another chance to come through a test together. "We've lost a number of players who had a lot of test caps amongst then, and some of those were in the midfield.
"It's good for them. They played pretty well in the Super 14 together, had a good test last week against a pretty good pairing in difficult conditions. There is desire and an opportunity for them to have another test match and show their wares."
It may not be a time of rotation, but it is one of rebuilding. Henry has made that clear, and it's now up to his players to oblige with a performance that reflects positively on his call to give them another week to forge their collective strength.
