AFTER JACINDA ARDERN, Ian Foster has the second biggest job in New Zealand. The first person we mentioned is the country’s Prime Minister, the second the coach of the All Blacks.
At least for now. Considering New Zealand have lost at home to Ireland for the first time, coming on the back of a first loss in 12 years to France last year and before that a first-ever defeat to the Pumas, Foster is a man under pressure.
In a sense he was from the start. Despite a fine reputation as sidekick to Steve Hansen, Foster had the unenviable task of going head-to-head with people’s favourite, Scott Robertson, when the post was advertised in 2019.
The public wanted Robertson; the union went for Foster.
One was a five-times Super Rugby winning coach with the Crusaders – that record is now up to six – who even had his own affectionate nickname, Razor, and was seen as a bit of a maverick, a guy who breakdances. The other was an assistant; the one who sorted out the goods at the back of the store, while Hansen fronted up to the customers.
One was Brian Clough, the other Ron Greenwood.
Yet again the maverick lost out.
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Robertson's dance routine is part of his allure. Photosport / Martin Hunter/INPHO
Photosport / Martin Hunter/INPHO / Martin Hunter/INPHO
These days the All Blacks are losing out, Foster’s record in charge of six defeats from 23 tests being good by any other country’s standards but poor by New Zealand’s. Six defeats is not a disaster, Andy Farrell has lost seven out of 26 by way of comparison, but it’s a harsh jury in this country. They are used to their team winning. They expect that to continue and Foster’s win ratio of 69.57 per cent is the worst by a New Zealand coach in the professional era.
This isn’t just another layer to Saturday’s Test decider in Wellington. This is the only thing being talked about in New Zealand this week to the extent that Farrell was even asked about it at today’s press conference. “He’s a fantastic coach, Ian Foster, and a great bloke,” said Farrell.
The whole thing has made for uncomfortable viewing. Six years ago, when the All Blacks visited Dublin to avenge their defeat in Chicago, he gave a press conference in Castleknock. “Fozzy,” each question began from the visiting New Zealand press pack.
They have been a lot edgier with their questions this time around.
In the New Zealand Herald this week, certain headlines have been blunt. ‘NZ Rugby board should reconsider ABs coaching set-up’. That was a good bit nicer than one opinion piece titled: ‘Why Ian Foster is one of the greatest bungles in NZ rugby history’.
There’s no getting away from the fact that part of Foster’s problem is he is not Scott Robertson. Worse again, there was the way Robertson failed to get the job.
“I wanted them to challenge me,” Robertson told Will Greenwood’s podcast. “Graham Henry was really deep.
“He put me in a corner a couple of times, and wouldn’t let me out, which I loved. I knew they (the tough questions) were coming. I just did my best. I walked out of there thinking ‘they know what they are going to get, they know how I am going to coach it’.”
He wasn’t what they wanted.
Now Foster is being repeatedly told he isn’t want the New Zealand public want with the latest criticism coming this week from former All Blacks captain, Buck Shelford.
“We didn’t lose by much last weekend but it was the way we lost,” Shelford said in an interview with Stuff, a prominent New Zealand website. “The turnover rate, the stupid penalties we gave away. Our discipline was terrible.’
“We haven’t upped our game, in terms of our backs’ attack.
“Our catching and passing, at times, is horrific. For guys of this calibre, I just think it is abysmal.
”One of the things I thought when Mr Foster got the job was ‘what are we going to see that we haven’t seen before?’
“And, to me, not a lot has changed.”
Change is expensive, though. To get rid of a coach a year out from a World Cup costs a bit of dough especially as Robertson, the popular choice, would probably want to bring his own backroom staff in with him.
There is, of course, one other viable candidate – this chap from Woodville on the north island, Joe Schmidt. Yet he’s a friend of Foster’s and is about to be added to the All Blacks’ backroom staff when this series is over.
As for now, it’s clear that there isn’t just a series on the line, but a coach’s reputation.
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A coach under pressure, stick from a former captain: the issues facing the All Blacks
AFTER JACINDA ARDERN, Ian Foster has the second biggest job in New Zealand. The first person we mentioned is the country’s Prime Minister, the second the coach of the All Blacks.
At least for now. Considering New Zealand have lost at home to Ireland for the first time, coming on the back of a first loss in 12 years to France last year and before that a first-ever defeat to the Pumas, Foster is a man under pressure.
In a sense he was from the start. Despite a fine reputation as sidekick to Steve Hansen, Foster had the unenviable task of going head-to-head with people’s favourite, Scott Robertson, when the post was advertised in 2019.
The public wanted Robertson; the union went for Foster.
One was a five-times Super Rugby winning coach with the Crusaders – that record is now up to six – who even had his own affectionate nickname, Razor, and was seen as a bit of a maverick, a guy who breakdances. The other was an assistant; the one who sorted out the goods at the back of the store, while Hansen fronted up to the customers.
One was Brian Clough, the other Ron Greenwood.
Yet again the maverick lost out.
These days the All Blacks are losing out, Foster’s record in charge of six defeats from 23 tests being good by any other country’s standards but poor by New Zealand’s. Six defeats is not a disaster, Andy Farrell has lost seven out of 26 by way of comparison, but it’s a harsh jury in this country. They are used to their team winning. They expect that to continue and Foster’s win ratio of 69.57 per cent is the worst by a New Zealand coach in the professional era.
This isn’t just another layer to Saturday’s Test decider in Wellington. This is the only thing being talked about in New Zealand this week to the extent that Farrell was even asked about it at today’s press conference. “He’s a fantastic coach, Ian Foster, and a great bloke,” said Farrell.
The whole thing has made for uncomfortable viewing. Six years ago, when the All Blacks visited Dublin to avenge their defeat in Chicago, he gave a press conference in Castleknock. “Fozzy,” each question began from the visiting New Zealand press pack.
They have been a lot edgier with their questions this time around.
In the New Zealand Herald this week, certain headlines have been blunt. ‘NZ Rugby board should reconsider ABs coaching set-up’. That was a good bit nicer than one opinion piece titled: ‘Why Ian Foster is one of the greatest bungles in NZ rugby history’.
There’s no getting away from the fact that part of Foster’s problem is he is not Scott Robertson. Worse again, there was the way Robertson failed to get the job.
“I wanted them to challenge me,” Robertson told Will Greenwood’s podcast. “Graham Henry was really deep.
“He put me in a corner a couple of times, and wouldn’t let me out, which I loved. I knew they (the tough questions) were coming. I just did my best. I walked out of there thinking ‘they know what they are going to get, they know how I am going to coach it’.”
He wasn’t what they wanted.
Now Foster is being repeatedly told he isn’t want the New Zealand public want with the latest criticism coming this week from former All Blacks captain, Buck Shelford.
“We didn’t lose by much last weekend but it was the way we lost,” Shelford said in an interview with Stuff, a prominent New Zealand website. “The turnover rate, the stupid penalties we gave away. Our discipline was terrible.’
“We haven’t upped our game, in terms of our backs’ attack.
“Our catching and passing, at times, is horrific. For guys of this calibre, I just think it is abysmal.
”One of the things I thought when Mr Foster got the job was ‘what are we going to see that we haven’t seen before?’
“And, to me, not a lot has changed.”
Change is expensive, though. To get rid of a coach a year out from a World Cup costs a bit of dough especially as Robertson, the popular choice, would probably want to bring his own backroom staff in with him.
There is, of course, one other viable candidate – this chap from Woodville on the north island, Joe Schmidt. Yet he’s a friend of Foster’s and is about to be added to the All Blacks’ backroom staff when this series is over.
As for now, it’s clear that there isn’t just a series on the line, but a coach’s reputation.
- Originally published at 9am
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All Blacks The Heat Is On