Waikato coach's pride for a team who foster passion

By CHRIS RATTUE

Ian Foster had barely hung up his playing gear when he was back on the training ground, as a sort of chaperone.

At the age of 33, after a record 148 games over 14 years for Waikato, with an NPC title, three Ranfurly Shield tenures and the experience of captaincy under his belt, plus loads of great memories, Foster quit after the 1998 season.

"My ambition was to finish with legs intact so I could have quality time with my family. I wanted to leave the game while I was still loving it," he says.

But no sooner had he stepped away from playing in front of the cowbells, than Chiefs coach Ross Cooper came ringing Foster's bell. He became the Chiefs' "technical adviser".

"Ross wanted me involved because Glen Jackson was to be the starting first five-eighths and he'd been my understudy at Waikato," says Foster.

"Michael Collins had been brought in as captain. My role was to mentor those two guys."

It wasn't quite what he had anticipated in his first year of retirement. After all, Foster - who worked in sales and marketing for TVNZ before rugby went professional - had a marketing consultancy in need of his full attention.

He does not recall the Chiefs job all that fondly, although he is thankful for the experience. One thing led to another, however - and quickly.

Foster became Kiwi Searancke's Waikato assistant and now, five games into his opening year as head coach, his beloved Waikato is roaring like an angry lion.

Before last season, Searancke and Foster pledged to remain good friends whatever the year brought. Waikato, minus a home as Rugby Park was rebuilt, just missed the semifinals.

Only when Searancke realised that his contract would not be renewed did Foster step forward, lining up against candidates who included B coach Tom Coventry and Old Boys' Larry Greene. Searancke schooled Foster for his interview.

"When I went in as Kiwi's assistant there was scepticism among rugby people in the club scene," says Foster of his rapid rise.

"There was a bit of scepticism from the players when I got this job. I'd been the assistant when we hadn't done so well and some players weren't convinced.

"We had a meeting and while it was nothing personal, that's what came across."

But you don't come through a long playing career without learning something, and Foster already appears to have the coaching touch. (He is reportedly on a year-by-year contract, but that will surely change soon.)

Foster had played in one of the character provincial sides, the Kevin Greene-coached Waikato of the early 1990s. A forward pack of Mitchell, Monkley, Jerram, Anderson, Gordon, Purvis, Gatland and Loe still inspires awe.

Foster's favourite yarn is from the 1993 match when Waikato ended Auckland's eight-year Ranfurly Shield reign.

"We determined not to say a word to the Auckland players. It was part of our strategy.

"In the last two minutes we were camped on their goal-line and as a scrum went down, Gatty [Warren Gatland] said to Sean Fitzpatrick, 'You've had it long enough'.

"Those moments are priceless. It was a very strong-willed team. Of the 19 Waikato centurions, 11 were in the team of that period."

Out of that famous Waikato mob, Foster has emerged as the man charged with putting the future right.

One of three brothers, he is the son of a rugby-playing Presbyterian minister.

He was born in Putaruru but spent time in the South Island as his father completed his training.

Foster, who describes himself as a Christian, is married to Leigh and they have three children: Mark, 9, Michaela, 3, and Jaime, 1.

When asked if his new coaching assignment has cut into family time, he gives an emphatic "no".

While Foster may want to tread a low-key path, Waikato are drawing increasing attention, especially after humbling Canterbury.

So what coaching philosophies will he reveal? He breaks the game down into set pieces, momentum at the breakdowns, and defence.

Foster aims to send out a team who concentrate on their own plans. So while he has analysed the opposition, his players' heads are mainly full of their own tactics, not their opponents'.

"It doesn't mean I don't watch and analyse, but I spent 50 per cent more time in front of a computer in 2000 and 2001 than I have this year," he says.

He has also lightened the physical load, with just one five-minute contact-pad training session all season.

"In three years playing for the Chiefs, the trainings were harder than the games," recalls Foster, who preaches technical rather than physical at training.

He has surrounded himself with support from his past. Assistant Farrell Temata was Greene's assistant a decade ago and is the man Foster turned to during his playing days. Another of his Waikato coaches, Glenn Ross, is manager, and long-time physio Dennis Shepherd has returned.

As he sits in his small office under the new Waikato Stadium stand, Foster says Waikato have had raw deals from the national press and selectors.

"The omission of Duane Monkley from the All Blacks is still a big talking point around the Waikato. Clearly, the selectors were wrong," he says, before suggesting recent players such as Deon Muir have suffered a similar fate.

Foster is dedicated to his cause.

"I think it does matter, having come from Waikato rugby. If you are passionate about a team it is easier to be the coach."