GRAHAM HENRY knows he is set for quite a fall should his side lose tonight's match in Sydney and has even declared victory in the Bledisloe Cup more important than winning the Tri Nations.

Facing only their second back-to-back losses since Henry took over as coach in 2003, the All Blacks must defeat the Wallabies to maintain their stranglehold on the Bledisloe trophy and stem the tide of anti-Henry sentiment in New Zealand.

Henry again played down his personal showdown with Australian coach Robbie Deans, as the two prepare to do battle for the first time at international level.

But there's no doubting the significance of the encounter, with Henry well aware that while losing to world champions South Africa was only just tolerable for the Kiwi public, losing to Australia will be unacceptable.

"Because of the history of the Bledisloe Cup and the closeness of the two countries geographically, and because of the banter between the two countries and the competition, I think it has greater magnitude [than the Tri Nations]," Henry said yesterday.

The All Blacks held their final training session yesterday afternoon, a light run at ANZ Stadium, and reported no injury concerns or hiccups to their preparation despite cancelling an outdoor session in Wellington and flying to Sydney late on Thursday.

"We've done what we wanted to do in the build-up to the game," Henry said. "It's been an interesting week. I think it was good to prepare at home, I think the guys feel a bit more comfortable there.

"I just think that was a new idea we used and that was a positive apart from the weather in Wellington, which was pretty demanding."

The gathered media made one final effort to glean a headline-grabbing comment about Deans but, as has been his trend this week, Henry didn't budge.

"I think every Test match of this magnitude, leading into it is a huge game. And the next one is a huge game," Henry said.

"We played the Springboks two weeks ago and that was a huge Test match - I was pretty nervous before that one and I'm pretty nervous before this one.

"There's obviously a wee bit more interest for you people [media] and for the public because Robbie's coaching Australia, and that's great for the game. But from my point of view, it's not personal. It's about trying to help this team play a top-quality game of football.

"I can understand [Deans is] emotional. I can imagine it's not an easy job to coach against your own country … it will be interesting how he handles it. It would be good to talk to him about it afterwards."

Asked if he thought Deans had made a positive impact on the Wallabies, Henry replied: "I think you guys are best to answer that … I assume he has, but I haven't read the reports or seen what's going on."

Asked if he'd sought the wisdom of Crusaders players on Deans's strategies, Henry said: "That's a good idea …"

Journalist: "You might want to elaborate?"

"Obviously we go down those paths."

And Henry is walking a rocky path of redemption.