IT'S already 2-0 to Robbie Deans in his coaching duel with Graham Henry. And on both occasions the pair clashed as head coaches - just as tonight - Deans's team was the underdog.

Remarkably, New Zealand's two most successful Super rugby coaches never went head-to-head in that competition. You have to go back to 1997 in the National Provincial Championship, when a rookie Deans, in his first senior professional coaching role with Canterbury, took on the might of Henry, who had won the domestic tournament four years in succession. Canterbury had not beaten Henry's Auckland in 14 years, and there was little to suggest any team was capable of stopping his march to a fifth straight NPC crown.

But on September 19 in Christchurch, the unthinkable happened. Traditional strugglers Canterbury showed their impressive early season form was no fluke as they upset the reigning champions, 20-9.

Henry knew then he would face Deans again that year, with the finals one month away. As it transpired, the two sides met in the semi-finals, again in Christchurch, and again Deans and Canterbury defied the odds to win, 21-15.

The next week they blew away Counties-Manukau 44-15 in the decider and the rookie coach had a premiership in his debut year while Auckland's super-coach was left scratching his head.

Some might argue beginner's luck, but the magnitude of the results was undeniable: the balance of power in New Zealand rugby had changed. Auckland had long been the dominant region, but from that year the South Islanders would claim supremacy.

Henry had led the Blues to the first two Super 12 titles, in '96 and '97, but after his loss in the NPC, the Crusaders won four of the next five Super 12 titles, creating a dynasty that continues today.

Now, with the All Blacks riding a wave of five successive Bledisloe series victories, Deans tonight faces a familiar challenge with his Wallabies to the task in '97.

Deans began at the Crusaders as team manager. By the time he became coach in 2000, Henry had moved to Europe after failing to win the All Blacks job, and was in charge of Wales. Henry lost out to John Mitchell then, but would replace him after the All Blacks' loss to Australia in the 2003 World Cup semi.

Demonstrating the competitiveness surrounding the All Blacks coaching job - before and after one has had the post - a Wallabies player let slip that Mitchell, now Western Force coach, phoned Matt Giteau before the first Bledisloe in Melbourne last year. He advised Giteau to tell skipper Stirling Mortlock to run at Luke McAlister's inside shoulder. When Mortlock did so late in the match, he made the defining break that led to Scott Staniforth's matchwinning try.

Deans was Mitchell's assistant in 2003. New Zealand rugby is a murky business, indeed, with barely two degrees of separation.

While Deans and Henry have moved largely in separate circles - by the Australian coach's reckoning they've had one conversation in five years - Deans knows the two All Blacks assistant coaches well.

Deans's offsider in his triumphant '97 NPC quest was Steve Hansen, and when he began managing the Crusaders the following year, the head coach was Wayne Smith, whom he replaced two years later. This family reunion Bledisloe has many elements, but the overriding theme of the week has been a perceived "death-riding" of the All Blacks by the New Zealand people, many of whom wanted Deans installed as Henry's successor.

The Kiwi public had vested such emotional interest in last year's fateful World Cup that their team's quarter-final exit stung of betrayal. Henry is the only All Blacks coach to have held his job following World Cup failure, although some feel he did so courtesy of the close relationship between Hansen and NZRU chief executive Steve Tew.

"I did not feel the interview had gone well, and I had no expectations whatsoever," Henry told The Independent . "I called my wife and told her we would have a quiet night at home. There would be nothing to celebrate. I thought Robbie was still going to get the job. I got a shock when they appointed me. They could have appointed Robbie - he's a very fine coach - and that would have been OK with me."

But Henry, a former teacher, must still be perplexed by the level of antagonism in some sectors of his homeland given that he has the most successful winning ratio of any All Blacks coach in history (45 wins from 51 Tests at 88 per cent).

Much of Henry's hopes tonight rest with playmaker Daniel Carter, who was mentored by Deans at the Crusaders. Comparing the two coaches, Carter said: "Graham has great support from Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen. They probably work more as a trio. At Crusaders level, the environment is a lot more relaxed and because [Deans] has coached at that level for such a long time, he backs the players and has a good rapport with the players.

"They both pick their times [to express frustration]. Obviously, Graham, when things need to be shaped up, the old schoolteacher comes out. But when he does speak like that, it's for a reason and the guys really respond to that. It's not a bad thing.

"Robbie is best at bringing the best out of players, and I think he's done that [with the Wallabies]."

For many, a loss tonight would be the last straw of patience for Henry, who is contracted until next year. The writing on the board may have had its first letters chalked down 11 years ago in Christchurch, but Henry must find the right formula tonight to dust off notions that he's incapable of running the class of '09. Three strikes …