In 2005 he joined the Auckland Blues team as a technical advisor and high performance manager, with the positions previously held by current All Blacks coach Graham Henry.
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Dean's decision to apply for the All Blacks made David the front runner for the Wallabies post, however the NZRU controversial decided to keep incumbent coach Graham Henry despite the All Blacks worst ever performance at a world cup which lead to Deans successfully applying for the Wallabies job.
Henry never stated that referee Wayne Barnes was culpable for the defeat, as Barnes not only allowed several French ruck infringements to go unpunished, but also sin-binned Luke McAlister and missed a forward pass in the build up to the decisive French try scored by Yannick Jauzion.
Howells was assistant coach to the Wales national rugby union team under Graham Henry during the 1999 Rugby World Cup and took over as caretaker head coach for the 2001 Wales tour to Japan whilst Henry was touring as coach of the British and Irish Lions.
He enhanced his reputation further as Graham Henry's assistant at the Auckland Blues during a four-year spell that saw them reach three consecutive Super 12 finals, lifting the trophy on two occasions in 1997 and 1998.
He developed his tackling, passing and running skills, especially under the coaching of Graham Henry, and became an excellent distributor of the ball, notably his excellent flat passes, and also a strong runner.
Natusch was actively discouraged from entering rugby league by his then union coach John Mills, an uncapped All Black who in 2009 joined Graham Henry's All Black coaching staff in an advisory role.
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However, the Lions lost that tour, and there were suggestions that it had been censored to edit out the fact that the players (especially Austin Healey) were displeased with the coach, Graham Henry.