The modern All Blacks coach needs a media strategy and the ability to sell an idea to a wider audience. In part two of his ‘how to coach the All Blacks’ mini-series, Gregor Paul looks at how Ian Foster should handle the media.
Read:
Inside the All Blacks Machine: The secret to dealing with the media
All Black coach Ian Foster with Sky Sport commentators Jeff Wilson and Ma'a Nonu during the South Africa Springboks v New Zealand All Blacks rugby union test match at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday 13 August 2022. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
A head coach, particularly the one in charge of the All Blacks, has to be equally comfortable and adept in both theatres: as capable of delivering a sharp, agenda-setting one-liner as they are a damaging rolling maul.
A test match is no longer just about the 80 minutes. So much can be influenced before the two teams meet and a coach that is serious about his side’s preparation has to be capable of controlling the narrative.
What is said, when, how and by whom, is a big part of the test build-up. Referees, fans and the opposition are all susceptible to reacting to what they read and hear: of being unduly affected by certain comments if they are smart, cutting or inflammatory, and manipulating the media is an integral part of the head coaching role.
It’s not an optional extra these days – the head coach needs a media strategy, a deeply considered means to get certain points across that benefit their team or sell an idea to a wider audience.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
The last World Cup best illustrated the importance of media management as the four teams that made the semi-finals – South Africa (Rassie Erasmus), Wales (Warren Gatland), England (Eddie Jones) and New Zealand (Steve Hansen) – were coached by men with PhDs in setting the agenda.
All four were, in their different ways, master manipulators. Gatland could land big blows with direct and confrontational statements.
In 2009, after Dan Carter wasn’t shown a yellow card for a high tackle late in the game which helped the All Blacks scrape past Wales 19-12 in Cardiff, Gatland told the media that referees were scared to make big calls against New Zealand.
World Rugby certainly reacted to that claim as one of their executives intervened in the judicial process to make sure Carter was cited and subsequently banned for a week.
Erasmus, deeply intelligent and scholarly, turned up at the 2019 World Cup with an incredibly detailed and strategic media plan that began a few days before South Africa played the All Blacks in their opening game.
He claimed that the All Blacks, who had been world number one from 2009 to early 2019, had benefitted from favourable refereeing in that period because of their status.
“It was a well-known fact that when it was really tough and teams were under the pump some of the 50-50 decisions just went (New Zealand’s) way because they deserved that for being number one so long,” he said as a reminder to match referee Jerome Garces that the All Blacks were no longer the number one side in the world.
But the two undisputed masters at media management were Jones and Hansen.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
The former produced one of the best performances of his career ahead of the semi-final against the All Blacks when he told media that: “New Zealand will be thinking about their ‘threepeat’. They talk about walking towards the pressure but this week the pressure is going to be chasing them down the street.
“The busiest bloke in Tokyo this week will be Gilbert Enoka, their mental skills coach.
“They have to deal with all this pressure of winning the World Cup three times and it is potentially the last game for their greatest coach.”
Even Jones would likely admit, though, that Hansen was his superior in the art of tailoring the messaging.
Throughout his tenure between 2012 and 2019, Hansen never let the media get under the bonnet of his team to look where he didn’t want them to, because he was so good at giving them something else on which to focus.
He was savant-like in his ability to pin-point where problems lay with opposition, and he tormented the Wallabies for a decade.
No one felt the brunt more than Ewen McKenzie, who took over as head coach of the Wallabies in 2013 and struggled to commit to a first-five.
When he surprisingly picked Kurtley Beale ahead of Bernard Foley to wear No 10 for a test at Eden Park in 2014, Hansen was asked what he thought about that selection: “I was dumbfounded. I thought ‘why would he do that?’ and I came to the conclusion that maybe Ewen doesn’t trust Foley to be able to do what he wants against us.
“Or if you really think about it, the other guy [Beale] is under contract and league are chasing him so you might start to think maybe the ARU has told him he’s got to pick him.”
In Hansen’s eight years as head coach, the All Blacks lost just three times against the Wallabies and it would be ridiculous to say that was because he bullied them in the media, but it certainly helped.
Just as it helped that when the All Blacks lost to Ireland in November 2018, he took the opportunity to build them up as World Cup favourites.
He knew that Ireland wouldn’t respond well to pressure, that they preferred being the underdog, and so he spoon-fed the Irish media the ammunition to inadvertently blow up their own team.
“If you want to make them favourites go ahead. What it [Ireland’s win] does do I think, and I said this at the start of the week; you’ve got the two best sides in the world playing each other – so as of now they’re the number one team in the world, and I guess they are favourites [for the World Cup].”
When the two sides met again 10 months later in the quarter-final of the World Cup, the Irish had almost imploded under the weight of expectation and the All Blacks hammered them 46-14.
The danger of an All Blacks coach not having a defined and strategic media strategy is that the narrative turns against the team and the pressure builds to intolerable levels.
In this age of headline-driven journalism and viral social media phenomena, a poorly considered response by a coach can pile the pressure on him and his team within seconds of a soundbite being captured.
There is a gotcha element within the media that ask loaded questions hoping to score easy, high-impact, headline-friendly answers that click the house down.
The All Blacks coach has to be wary of being set-up – to be instantly aware at a press conference how their answers could be blown out of proportion or taken out of context to create a storyline that doesn’t match with the truth.
Equally, the All Blacks coach can’t hope to shut down any line of questioning he doesn’t like – because not giving an answer simply intensifies the desire to get one - and besides, the brand needs to front with honesty and assurances otherwise fans get antsy and sponsors twitchy.
With such an incredible legacy to be protected and so much commercial investment to be retained, there has to be some strategic planning done to pre-empt in which direction the media narrative will be flowing, because bad headlines can kill the All Blacks.
After the All Blacks lost the series against Ireland in July, it should have been obvious that questions were going to come about Ian Foster’s willingness and readiness to stay as head coach.
But instead of offering a considered view that signalled to the public, and more importantly his employer, that he was committed to the role and determined to find ways to improve the performance, Foster instead said: “I just want to talk about the test match.”
When the media came looking for an answer to that same question the following day, the press conference was famously cancelled and the pressure on Foster amplified by a factor of 10 when the no-show led to NZR chief executive Mark Robinson releasing a statement to appease the media which said: “Clearly the performance across the series for the All Blacks was not acceptable as we know they have reflected.”
For the next month, if not longer, the only story of interest was whether Foster would follow John Plumtree and Brad Mooar out the door, as both assistants were let go after the Irish series.
It was a stunning example of why the All Blacks coach has to be media savvy and understand the news cycle and what drives it and equally, there has to be a feel for the mood of the nation.
When the All Blacks lost 26-10 in their opening Rugby Championship test against South Africa, it was a performance that to the untrained eye, looked ragged, inaccurate and listless.
But Foster told Sky TV immediately after the final whistle that: “I felt it was our most improved performance this year.”
It was close to a record defeat and it was apparent from the reaction on social media, that New Zealanders interpreted Foster’s assessment as ill-conceived and almost delusional.
He was mocked on Twitter, and when the All Blacks produced a stunning 80 minutes the following week to win at Ellis Park, social media wasn’t prepared to re-evaluate Foster’s previous comments as somehow not so far from the truth after all.
This is the reality of the media game – it lives for the moment and fans only remember what they want, how they want and most importantly, how an All Blacks coach makes them feel.
Fans relate to honesty and in New Zealand, they have to believe in the strength and authority of the All Blacks coach – be convinced that he is in control, calm and working to a plan and therefore, winning in the court of public opinion is therefore just about as important as winning on the field.
