Call them stubborn, label them stupid, but it certainly seems Graham Henry and his fellow selectors are struggling to learn the harsh lessons of their last World Cup failings.

By Duncan Johnstone

A spate of injuries has forced them to further tinker with their lineup to play Japan tonight.

But even their initial selection contained a large number of changes to continue an alarming trend.

Go back to what was undoubtedly the best performance of the season, the 30-14 win over Australia at Eden Park.

Since then there has been constant – and significant – alterations.

The subsequent teams saw – 11 changes to lose to the Springboks, 11 more changes for the next up loss to the Wallabies and nine changes for the next match, the World Cup opening win against Tonga.

Initially there were a further six changes to the team named to play Japan in the second match before injury played its hand and skipper Richie McCaw, first-five Dan Carter and fullback Mils Muliaina were taken out.

Suddenly it seems a long, long way back to that team that blitzed the Wallabies to retain the Bledisloe Cup. Sadly that side won’t be reassembled at this tournament because three of the players were judged not even good enough to even make the World Cup squad – wings Hosea Gear and Sitiveni Sivivatu and prop Wyatt Crocket.

As for a World Cup history lesson, try this – four years ago Henry made at least 10 changes for every match that New Zealand played at the tournament that France hosted. In their third pool match against Scotland there were only three players remaining from the team that had started the previous game against Portugal.

For two other matches he made 11 changes apiece. And the All Blacks side that began the ill-fated quarter-final against France included only five players from the team that beat Romania 85-8 in the final pool encounter.

Is there a trend here? What happened to the consistent selection that brought such consistent performances just last year?

Seeming as it’s World Cup time, it’s worth noting that the Springboks team that triumphed in the final at the last tournament featured just one injury-enforced change to the side that started the event six weeks earlier.

What’s more, 12 of Jake White’s starting XV in the final had started five of the six matches leading up to it, two had started four matches and CJ van der Linde, who had a knee injury during the tournament, started in three.

Is it any surprise to see Peter de Villiers starting to stick with his big guns now and only altering through the necessity of injuries?

And please note that Wallabies coach Robbie Deans used the same side that beat the All Blacks in Brisbane to win the Tri-Nations to start this World Cup against Italy and he’s made just one injury-enforced change to his team to take on Ireland at Eden Park tomorrow.

Expect the All Blacks to make significant changes to the team to play France in the key pool match next weekend. He has to because he’s boxed into a corner now with the clock ticking away.

But from here Henry needs to get ruthless and settle on his top team and give the combinations time to gel. Henry needs to get consistent before it’s too late. Or is it already too late? Time will tell.

– Stuff