John Roughan: We need commonsense after the rugby coach debacle and farce

OPINION

New Zealand’s most successful global enterprise, rugby football, could be expected to have corporate leadership of the highest calibre to have remained so consistently ahead of the wave. Sadly, if it ever did have smart people in charge, there is no sign of them now.

The lack of sophistication at executive and director levels of New Zealand Rugby became evident a few years ago in the sale of a share in the All Blacks’ brand, when the players’ union had more business sense than the board.

But that was nothing compared to the debacle we have witnessed over replacing the All Blacks’ head coach. Financial competence is a comparatively rare commodity but competence in the appointment and treatment of people in key positions should be common sense.

Ideally, you make the right decision to begin with. In case you don’t, you reserve a right to review it after a reasonable time (say, two years into a four-year contract). But, most important, you back your chosen person unequivocally, until the time is right to appointment someone new.

NZ Rugby’s previous and present boards and current chief executive have failed all these tests and a few more, in their appointment, re-appointments, and now the replacement, of Ian Foster. They did at least choose the right man this week but their arrangements for the hand-over are abysmal.

They are sending the All Blacks to the Rugby World Cup in September under a lame duck coach, while the next one, Scott Robertson, waits in the wings, maintaining a professional distance from the players.

Having arranged this awkward transition, board chairwoman Dame Patsy Reddy and chief executive Mark Robinson should invite an independent inquiry into the way this whole business has been handled at head office over the past four years.

Scott Robertson will be the next All Blacks coach from 2024. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Foster, as I think just about all rugby followers would now agree, was the wrong choice to take over from Sir Steve Hansen after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, but that decision was reasonable at the time. Foster, Hansen’s assistant, represented continuation of a brilliant All Black era that had begun under Sir Graham Henry and continuation had succeeded magnificently when Hansen took over in 2012.

Hansen had built a team around a new halfback, Aaron Smith, whose speed to the breakdown enabled the All Blacks to play at a pace no other side could counter for a good few years. I’m sure I was not the only rugby follower hoping to see something similar in 2020 – new ideas, new key players, new style of play, new standards set for the game. We were soon disappointed.

Foster’s first two years were disrupted by the pandemic and the All Blacks did well to win both the 2020 and 2021 Rugby Championships. It would have been harsh to terminate his contract at that stage, though there were deeper grounds for concern.

Foster’s selections were dull. New players were not developed. The team’s performances were up and down, seemingly depending on the players’ mood rather than the coach’s drive. By the end of 2021 it would have been reasonable to put him under review at the end of 2022. Instead, we saw a debacle last year.

After losing the series to Ireland, NZR let it be known Foster’s future depended on the next two tests, in South Africa. The All Blacks lost the first and Foster could not say whether he would still be coach a week later. Nor could CEO Robinson.

Criticised for that, Robinson went to other extreme after the All Blacks won the second test well, confirming Foster’s appointment right through to the World Cup.

Conventional wisdom said a coach could not be replaced any closer to the World Cup but, as the year ended, England, Australia and Wales all did exactly that. Meanwhile, Foster’s obvious replacement, Robertson, had put himself on the international market.

Robertson, it turned out, had been all but promised Foster’s job in the mid-year debacle. Herald rugby writer Gregor Paul revealed that Joe Schmidt, Ireland’s former Kiwi coach who had joined Foster’s crew after the Irish series, was asked to meet Robertson to see if he could work with him.

Schmidt did so but, according to Paul, felt he owed loyalty to Foster. So the coach who obviously has the highest regard of the decision-makers was unable to give them impartial advice. Debacle had become farce.

This year it got worse. Afraid of losing Robertson, the board announced it would name the next All Blacks coach before the World Cup. Foster declared his disgust and decided not to stand again. Schmidt withdrew too, probably not anxious to work under the rubes in charge of rugby here.