“Coaching is such a dynamic thing.
“We’ve got the resources and time, and I enjoy seeing how club and representative coaches maximise their time and the great ideas that come out of that.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity. I love seeing the hard work people are putting into communities, and it’s great to meet them.”
The coaching workshop was put on by the Poverty Bay Rugby Union and was free for any coach to attend.
Foster, or “Fozzie” to his peers, was forthcoming with the strategies the All Blacks use in their game . . . from the way they incorporate the halfback in the defensive line if they have two people back defending the kick to the structures they use at training to get the most out of their players.
It was an insightful session for all parties, with Foster using video review to showcase the points he was making and scribbling game patterns on the whiteboard.
The depth at which the game is analysed at the highest level is astounding, from the spacings between players on defence to the different patterns they use as the game evolves.
Much like a fighter slowly working out his opponent through poking and prodding to find weaknesses, the All Blacks are always looking for vulnerabilities in their opponents throughout the match.
Foster said in the session that they would often test the defence to see how they reacted, but a lot of the work to understand opponents’ play was done before the match using video analysis.
The session gave some indication of the depth of Foster’s study and understanding of the game, and local coaches will have appreciated how open he was about passing on his knowledge.
It will be interesting to see how the coaches at the workshop incorporate what was discussed into their teams’ game play, and how it raises the level of play.
