Ian Foster has survived as All Blacks head coach, with the NZ Rugby board hailing the team's "magnificent" weekend win in South Africa. Video / NZ Herald
Newstalk ZB rugby commentator Elliott Smith analyses the latest from the world of rugby.
An observation...
Make no mistake, the appointment of Ian Foster is made with the belief that in the next 14 months Foster can meld the All Blacks into a Rugby World Cup winner. A World Cupboils down to three weeks. Three knockout games against, in theory, increasingly potent opposition. There is little to no evidence at this point that the All Blacks are capable of stringing together two tough wins back to back, let alone three. The All Blacks need to find a ruthless edge. The hope is they began to find it at Ellis Park, coming back to win with two late tries after going behind.
A question...
What do you call an endorsement of a reappointment? It's rare you get reappointed to a job you are already contracted to do for the same length of time. But welcome to the world of professional sport. Ian Foster has the rare distinction of twice being confirmed as the man to lead the All Blacks to a World Cup, the news first trumpeted on August 24th last year and then, 51 weeks later on Wednesday.
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster and NZ Rugby CEO Mark Robinson at the press conference confirming Foster will continue. Photo / Photosport
An explanation...
New Zealand Rugby went too early reappointing Foster last year, at a time when they had not enough evidence of the coaching staff and results on the park. That decision was based on a diet of transtasman fixtures, two games against Argentina and some hitouts against Pacific Island fodder at home. It always felt like an early and emotive call – the squad were about to leave on a lengthy tour abroad and at that time in peak-Covid hysteria had no way of getting home early.
In some ways the decisiveness of that decision has backed NZR into a corner. They weren't as decisive when reviews suggested some of his assistants weren't up to it and then forced themselves into a game of chicken in recent weeks on Foster's future.
The final episode of the acclaimed Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul, that aired this week played off what the central character, on-the-run lawyer Saul Goodman, might do if they had a time machine. I've never asked Mark Robinson if he was a fan, but if he did watch, he might have pondered whether they should have waited to renew Foster – or otherwise – until after last year's end of year tour.
The All Blacks' recent results have not been s'all good, man. Photo / Supplied
A suggestion...
That win, coupled with Jason Ryan coming on board and Joe Schmidt climbing the All Blacks corporate ladder quickly to assistant coach, could be the marker that separates Ian Foster's All Blacks tenure into BC (before change) and AD (assistants ditched) – or it could be an outlier in an inconsistent era. If Foster is able to rally the side to win next year's World Cup, it might even rank as New Zealand's best World Cup victory.
A prediction...
There'll be no rest on this decision until October next year. The die has been cast (for a second or third time) from New Zealand Rugby. Other than running the table through to win the World Cup, it feels like Foster will never win the masses over – he seems to have accepted that too judging by some of his comments at the media conference this week.
