2019 Rugby World Cup: Patrick McKendry - Now or never for Ian Foster as Steve Hansen manipulates All Blacks thinking

Assistant Head Coach Ian Foster and All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen. Photo / Jason Oxenham.

COMMENT

A Steve Hansen press conference is a lesson in manipulation from a man at the peak of his coaching powers — one who also has the news sense of a seasoned journalist.

There are levels to this game and he's at the top with perhaps only Eddie Jones, an Aussie in charge of England who can play the larrikin while simultaneously sticking the knife in. Hansen can occasionally be cutting but also humorous and engaging and he tells a story like few others. Jones is also genuinely funny.

So it was significant when Hansen mentioned his assistant Ian Foster following the stunning 46-14 World Cup quarter-final victory over Ireland at Tokyo Stadium. "The bloke beside me, Ian Foster — our attacking game has gone to a new level and he is coaching the best I have seen," Hansen said.

But there was probably more in it than Hansen merely endorsing attack coach Foster's methods, or even giving him an extended reference as his successor once he steps down at the end of this tournament.

It would also have been a message to his players — not that they necessarily needed it — that Foster, too, is at the top of his game and that they should implicitly trust the gameplan for their next challenge, a semifinal against England at Yokohama on Saturday.

Assistant Head Coach Ian Foster and All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen. Photo / Jason Oxenham.

The All Blacks scored seven tries against Ireland, one of the better defensive teams in Japan and one who had beaten the All Blacks in two of their last three tests. It's an attacking level that will have to be maintained or perhaps even improved on against England if the "three-peat", as Jones called it during his entertaining recent press conference, is to stay alive.

Foster, an assistant since 2012, is probably the front-runner of three candidates to succeed Hansen.

The others are Scott Robertson, who has extended his contract with the Crusaders but who presumably has an All Black out clause, and Japan coach Jamie Joseph, who is off contract and unlikely to re-commit to the Brave Blossoms despite their thrilling run to the quarter-finals.

Foster will be the favourite for the top job because he's already part of a successful set-up, and that favouritism may not change if the All Blacks fall to England at the next hurdle or to Wales or South Africa at the final one.

There's little doubt England are the second-best team at this World Cup behind the All Blacks; the world rankings reflect that and so does their form.

But the All Blacks' mission to change their game to combat the stranglehold defence has on the modern game is well underway and it could end up changing the sport — at least in the short term, before the cycle repeats itself.

Foster, in his mid-50s, has been a huge part of that change — in terms of strategy and execution — and has earned the right to go to the next level.

Robertson, 45, has a perfect three from three Super Rugby record but is still a young coach. His time at the All Blacks will come but it's now or never for Foster.