After five losses from their last six tests, including three defeats in a row, and with unwanted records mounting, the All Blacks summoned their brilliant best to snap their funk and bring the world champions down to earth. Video / Sky Sport
OPINION:
Remember the Seinfeld TV series back in the 1990s, and how they always talked about it being a show about nothing?
That's what the media conference NZ Rugby boss Mark Robinson did on Zoom from South Africa was like after the All Blacks beat the Springboks 35-23 yesterday.
It went for 20 minutes and no matter how many different ways reporters asked the same question, Robinson refused to say whether or not he endorsed Ian Foster. He wouldn't even say whether Foster would be coach when the All Blacks play Argentina in Christchurch on August 27.
How about this for wishy-washy? Here's a quote from Robinson: "We've been having conversations right through this time. We believe we know where we stand, we've just got to work through that with him." "Him", of course, being Foster.
New Zealand's head coach Ian Foster, during the Rugby Championship test between South Africa and New Zealand. Photo / AP
It was a bit like the Greens leadership nonsense a few weeks back when every Green MP would bang on about process, if someone asked them whether or not they supported James Shaw.
Mark Robinson was just the same, going on and on and on about reviews and processes. It was a media conference about nothing. Just like Seinfeld was a TV show about nothing.
But if I was Ian Foster, I think I'd be feeling pretty uncomfortable about the way Robinson was talking. Because it sounds to me like Robinson wants him gone.
But something clicked yesterday with that result, didn't it? Whether it's as specific as Jason Ryan working his magic with the forward pack just a few weeks into his new gig, I don't know. Either way, it was a result I certainly wasn't expecting.
And if the game had gone how I'd expected, I'd probably be saying Foster has to go.
I've been a big advocate of Razor Robertson getting the job, and, if the All Blacks hadn't won yesterday, I reckon I'd be going down the Razor line again and pushing for him to replace Foster.
But the All Blacks didn't lose yesterday. They won. And, as former coach John Hart said on Newstalk ZB, beating the Springboks at Ellis Park is an achievement in itself.
And that's why my thinking has changed - after all, what good is having a mind if you can't change it - and I now reckon that NZ Rugby should just stick with Ian Foster until the World Cup in France, in just over a year's time.
I know it's just one win for the All Blacks after losing five out of six test matches. And who knows what will happen with Argentina in less than a couple of weeks. But that's the point isn't it? We don't know.
But we do know that the All Blacks have just beaten the Springboks in one of the toughest places to play, from a crowd perspective.
Which, for me, is enough to think that Foster and Sam Cane haven't just been talking hot air when they've been saying that they think the team has been building towards something good.
And they showed that yesterday morning in Johannesburg, didn't they? So why would you do anything to mess with the momentum that will certainly come from that?
But aside from the rugby itself, I think when it comes to the All Blacks we can lose perspective big time pretty quickly. Especially when you consider some of the issues that we've been talking about over the past week in relation to people's behaviour.
Ian Foster isn't a politician. He hasn't held himself up as some sort of pillar of society. He doesn't want to change the world because he thinks he knows it all.
He's a rugby coach. Just a rugby coach. And when it comes down to it, so what if his team loses five out of six test matches? Because, even if it's the All Blacks, it's still just a game.
