So Ian Foster won’t throw his hat in the ring for 2024. Good on him for doing what New Zealand Rugby (NZR) didn’t - making a decision.
I now fervently hope he and his 2023 All Blacks win the World Cup, as it will expose NZR’s mishandling of this entiremess.
It’s the end of an era but seemingly brings in a new one, where coaches are subject to presidential-style media politicking and votes of confidence from employers which turn out to be anything but. It’s a miserable way to end a man’s fine rugby career - and a system where all the personal and political bits were usually hidden behind rugby’s cone of silence.
Foster has been a part of the All Blacks coaching set-up since 2012; the links go right back to 2004 when one of his principal confreres, Steve Hansen, became an assistant All Blacks coach. That incorporates some of the All Blacks’ greatest years.
If this is progress, give us back the bad old days when NZR’s most cherished phrase was “No comment”. Two weeks ago, I wrote a column which predicted if Foster was the first All Blacks coach to be discarded in a World Cup year (as opposed to afterwards), the sympathy meter would swing his way significantly.
I’ve been a Foster critic - but that’s certainly what my meter is now reading. I’ve seen cleaner disembowelments than this.
With the recent slump in form of the All Blacks, NZR’s indecision and fumbling approach to the coaching issue has made it all seem as if Foster and Scott Robertson were two bald men fighting over a comb, while NZR took an unfathomable length of time to erect their stand selling Miracle Hair Restorer.
Back in December I wrote a column which laid out the three main options - fire Foster then and appoint a new coach to go to the 2023 World Cup; the “dead man walking” scenario where Foster is replaced as coach from 2024 on but takes the team to France this year; and the “secret squirrel” option where Robertson (or another) is promised the job - but is sworn to secrecy.
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster and NZ Rugby CEO Mark Robinson at the press conference to announce Foster's retention in late 2022. Photo / Photosport
In the end, in their ham-fisted way, NZR might even have done us all a favour. Except Foster. This Dumb And Dumber sideshow might just galvanise the All Blacks squad. They really have something to prove now. Siege mentality, anyone?
Who’s to say they won’t come home with the Cup? There’ve been signs of revival. They have selection issues and maybe some conservatism issues to sort out - but there’s no question the talent is there. Ireland are top dogs but are in a tough group with Scotland and South Africa. England seem to be slipping back, France are another huge threat but aren’t firing on all cylinders yet.
Maybe that was the NZR plan all along. Right the listing ship by exhibiting so much bumbling, lack of heart and indecisiveness that the country would unite behind Foster and a team subject to lessened expectations before entering a new era.
