Pressure has been piled on All Blacks coach Ian Foster and captain Sam Cane. Photo / NZME
Pressure has been piled on All Blacks coach Ian Foster and captain Sam Cane. Photo / NZME
Five losses in six test matches confirm that the All Blacks are going through one of the most torrid runs in the history of the team.
Speaking to the Front Page podcast, Newstalk ZB Weekend Sport host Jason Pine says the problems run deep throughout the team.
Pine says that while players are ultimately to blame for not getting the ball over the white line, he saw little evidence of a clear gameplan during the 80 minutes of the match.
"You think of the famous, All Black sides of the past and the way that they cut other teams to shreds, it's just not happening at the moment," he says.
"We have a situation at the moment where the All Blacks just aren't playing the rugby that the players we have at our disposal can [execute]. And if you boil it down, that has to come down to the coaching staff."
Pine sees little possibility of Foster holding onto his job, even if the All Blacks now go on to beat South Africa in the second test.
"I can't see a way that Foster holds onto his job after this weekend, win, lose or draw... Those in power are already positioning themselves to exit Foster and usher in a new coaching regime."
Pine says he's seen little to give him the confidence that this All Blacks team has any potential to turn it around this weekend in front of 60,000 fans at Ellis Park.
Part of what hurts so much in watching the All Blacks lose lies in the fact that so much attention and investment goes into this team.
Major corporates clamour over each other to be associated with the All Blacks and even international private equity companies have backed the team.
The same cannot be said of many of our champions in other smaller sports.
Commonwealth Games gold medalist Lewis Clareburt recently told the media that he may struggle to get to the Paris Olympics due to a lack of financial support.
His comments coincided with a record-haul for New Zealand's athletes at the games in Birmingham and shed light on the fact that sporting excellence doesn't always equate to financial prosperity.
This does raise some serious questions about whether we need to look at how both fans and businesses can get better at supporting the efforts of athletes in other sports.
Perhaps, the poor run of All Blacks form offers a moment to reflect on that.
On that topic, Pine says that Clareburt offers the ideal case study of the struggles sports stars face in following their dreams.
"He is our next Olympic Games gold medalist," says Pine.
"We haven't had many in the pool. You need to look back to Danyon Loader back in 1996 at Atlanta to find another."
Pine says the lack of travel funding for Clareburt is only part of the problem facing the athlete.
"He wasn't even given the lane time that he needed due to a lack of lane availability in Wellington where he lives… So whatever needs to be changed or whatever needs to be invested, we need to give Lewis everything he possibly needs.
"His coach, Swimming New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand should be sitting down upon his return and working out a plan forward for Lewis Clareburt. He is the golden boy for New Zealand swimming and could literally be that in Paris in two years."
New Zealand had a lot to celebrate at the Commonwealth Games. Photo / Photosport
Pine says the same applies to our hugely successful cyclists, who picked up numerous medals during the Commonwealth Games.
"Elise Andrews, who received three gold medals and silver, should also be sitting down with Cycling New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand to work out a plan to get her on the podium in Paris in two years' time."
Pine says he would like to see New Zealand's major sporting bodies work together to maximise the potential of New Zealand athletes in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.
"This shouldn't necessarily be the case for everybody who got on the podium, but definitely for those who show immense promise. We need to look at how we maximise that in two years' time and then plot the path to get there. We need to work out what investment is needed and then invest that money. It's pretty simple."
Asked whether New Zealand athletes have any hope of securing private investment similar to what has been injected into the All Blacks by Silverlake, Pine said it was unlikely.
"I don't see any outside investors like Silverlake wanting to invest in anything in our country other than New Zealand Rugby. They are the one team that has an international cut-through. If you meet people from foreign lands and you mention New Zealand, one of the first things they'll say is either the All Blacks or Jonah Lomu. We just don't have the cut-through in other sports."
Pine says that giving New Zealand athletes the platform to excel will largely depend on the support they secure from the Government and High Performance Sport New Zealand.
He does, however, believe that local private investors could play a role in that process too.
He uses the example of a private investor backing New Zealand squash player Paul Coll to continue on his journey.
"I would love it if a New Zealand investor said: 'Right, Paul Coll is my project. I'm going to invest X million dollars in him to make things easier for him, to make sure he flies first class wherever he goes and to make sure he stays in nice places and gets the court time he needs.' Then he wouldn't have to worry about anything other than improving his squash."
Pine stresses that this isn't about picking favourites and says that with the right funding mix many of New Zealand's top athletes can be given the resources they need to thrive – regardless of whether they're an All Black or not.
• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
