Gregor Paul: The artform that Ian Foster's adopted to transform the All Blacks

It's taken some time for Ian Foster to realise the value in a ruthless touch. Photo / Photosport

OPINION:

That the All Blacks players are taking their time to learn the art of being ruthless is not such a big surprise, as finding that cold, clinical edge has been a slow voyage of discovery for their head coach, too.

Test rugby is a fantastically unforgiving place, where one small mistake can have massive ramifications and the job of the head coach could be distilled to saying their key role is to create an environment which encourages players and assistant coaches to be brave enough to express themselves, but tough enough to not reward them for underperformance.

It's a complex mix to strike, but ultimately everyone in the All Blacks has to fear the consequences of not producing what is asked of them; and while head coach Ian Foster has steadfastly refused to be drawn into self-reflection about the journey he has endured this year, he would most likely admit, should he ever be tempted to open up, that he made a mistake in not making changes to his wider coaching team earlier than he did.

It was clear through the All Blacks results, performances and player feedback at the end of last year, that Foster's original assistants, John Plumtree and Brad Mooar were not delivering in line with expectation.

Former All Blacks assistant coaches Brad Mooar (L) and John Plumtree. Photo / Photosport

That predicament, however, was not met with the cold, ruthless outcome it should have been and instead of letting them both go at the end of last year, Foster made a promise to the NZR board that he would upskill the two, mentor and develop them in real time and have them up to speed by the end of this year.

His loyalty to his people was commendable, but it was also misplaced and persevering against the feedback not only denied the All Blacks the coaching they needed, it sent the wrong message to the players about the consequences of underperformance.

Foster needed to be ruthless at the end of last year to give the environment the edge and tension it needed.

The players needed to see a real-life example of their head coach demonstrating the cold, calculated, team-first, decision making that defines the best teams in the world and is expected of them every time they take the field.

The arrival of Jason Ryan and Joe Schmidt as assistants has had the dual impact of giving the players the technical, tactical and psychological guidance they needed, while also providing Foster with an evidential reminder that if he wants the All Blacks to operate in a ruthless environment, then the obligation to set the tone sits most heavily with him.

And the fact that coaching changes weren't made until after the series against Ireland had been lost, has left this All Blacks side a little behind in their quest to understand what being ruthless means.

What became apparent during the Rugby Championship is that the All Blacks have rebuilt the core parts of their game.

They are almost unrecognisable in terms of their set-piece work and ability to compete physically across the park.

So too have they developed a deeper understanding of their attack structures and how to implement them and now they are troubled by just one failing, really, which is they are not yet an 80-minute team.

There is no foundation element of their game broken anymore and when they string all the bits together, they look like potential World Cup winners.

It's taken some time for Ian Foster to realise the value in a ruthless touch. Photo / Photosport

But they can't yet string it all together for long enough and in their two Bledisloe Cup tests there was a mental volatility to the All Blacks that saw them squander too many opportunities by simply not staying focused and clinical in the key moments.

"I think that it takes a while to get people to understand that you knock off for half a second in a test match, you get punished," Foster said in why he feels his All Blacks don't yet have that killer instinct.

"We have signs in the last two months where we have had a lot of good spells in games, but we didn't quite get the fact that if you don't quite nail every little moment, you get hurt and once you get hurt on the scoreboard, then it becomes hard to catch up.

"It is that constant belief of knowing our game and what works for us and sticking to it and not getting distracted."

Again, the art of being ruthless has been a slow learn for this All Blacks side, their coach included.

But there is a definitive sense that Foster has come of age as a head coach – felt the consequences himself of not being cold and clinical when he should have been and having finally been ruthless in letting his former assistants go, he's grown the confidence to demand that same edge from others.

More importantly, the players have seen that there are real and lasting consequences if performance doesn't meet expectation, something which must have enhanced their understanding that they too need to be equally ruthless in every decision they make.