The All Blacks flew to Japan on Sunday to start a six-week tour of the northern hemisphere in which the performance of the coaches will be under the microscope more than the players.

With less than two years to go before the 2011 World Cup, the tour was designed as an opportunity to bed-down the nucleus of a potentially championship-winning squad.

Instead, when the team was named last weekend the announcement was overshadowed by the unprecedented admission from coach Graham Henry and co-coaches Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith that they needed a shake-up.

Now the focus of the tour is on whether fresh ideas and strategies can lift the All Blacks or whether there may be a more deeply rooted problem.

After a sub-par domestic season in which the All Blacks backs seldom sparkled as the forwards were regularly outplayed, Henry has replaced Hansen in charge of the under-performing pack.

Hansen takes over the backs from former All Blacks flyhalf Smith, who assumes Henry's former defence portfolio.

"Because we haven't had a great year I think it creates an extra edge," Henry said. "Players and coaches want to prove themselves, so there's probably a wee bit more tension, and a little bit more focus."

The rearranging of responsibilities dominated the headlines in this rugby-obsessed country, where the performance of the All Blacks coaches is subject to intense and constant scrutiny.

When the tournament-favourite All Blacks were bundled out in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup, opinion polls showed most New Zealanders disagreed with the appointment of Henry, Hansen and Smith for four more years.

Over the following 12 months, Henry showed he could return the All Blacks to the top, but the tide turned this year when they lost their world No.1 ranking to South Africa and four of nine Tests so far.

Faced with a clear need for urgent action, Henry decided on change at the top for this tour, which starts with a Test against Australia in Tokyo on October 31 followed by internationals against Wales, Italy, England and France.

"We're always trying to improve what we're doing and we think this is an opportunity to do that and to get better," Henry said.

However, the shake-up means removing Henry from organising defence, which has been the one high-performance area in a team that has suffered from ball-handling and tactical errors this year.

When they run on to the field in Tokyo to play Australia next weekend, it will be more than three hours and 45 minutes since the Wallabies last scored a try against the All Blacks.

Former All Blacks prop Richard Loe, in a newspaper column, expressed concern about what the coaching revamp could be hiding.

"The players are supposed to be specialists," he wrote. "So are the coaches. If you are not performing in your specialist role, surely you're down the road, not duck-shoved into another position."

While the impact of the new coaching roles will inevitably be the focus of the tour, it still remains the platform for the players to showcase their World Cup credentials amid some surprising selections and omissions.

"This tour is very much about selection going forward," Henry said.

"There is a small eye for the Rugby World Cup and we have to make sure our selections are right."

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