Foster decision can’t drag on till end of year
The New Zealand Rugby board will soon be presented with options on All Blacks coach Ian Foster’s future, and timing is likely to be an important part of their deliberations.
Foster’s predecessor Steve Hansen wants an extension for Foster to be sorted out as soon as possible, arguing NZ Rugby has all the evidence it needs to give him two more years through to the Rugby World Cup.
On the flipside, Foster’s critics point to an underwhelming 2020 and argue that NZ Rugby should wait until the end of the year.
But the decision-making process is complicated, and a Catch-22 situation has arisen due to the havoc that Covid-19 has played with the rugby calendar.
NZ Rugby is yet to see any evidence of Foster’s coaching against the northern hemisphere sides, and is likely mindful that the All Blacks were badly exposed by
England in Japan in 2019.
Those concerns are justifiable. In an ideal world Foster would have had a northern tour under his belt by now, and the issues raised by the defeat to Argentina last year would either have been magnified or resolved.
But that ideal world is long gone – Covid-19 has seen to that. And if the board waits until the end of year before making a call on Foster, it would create a prolonged period of uncertainty for the test side, with each performance being viewed as a referendum on his coaching tenure.
That would create a draining environment for the coach to work within, and my sense is also that the ongoing talk about his future is already preventing Foster from fully settling into the role.
How could it not? And he is already having to make the tricky adjustment from assistant to head coach, a much lonelier role that some dislike because it means you have to be that wee bit harder, and a bit more distant from players whose company you enjoy.
But the signs here are promising. Yesterday, he made his displeasure known with TJ Pererana over his non-move to the NRL. Good on Foster. The public will appreciate knowing he is prepared to lay down the law.
As for Crusaders coach Scott Robertson, he was a compelling candidate in 2019. Give me a ballot and I would have put the tick beside his name.
But his recent deal with the Crusaders shows that he has parked his All Blacks thoughts until 2024 – as much as he can.
That can’t have been easy for a coach who thought his time had come in 2019, but with family life settled in Sumner and Covid-19 still causing havoc at New Zealand’s borders, the overseas option may not have been quite as appealing as it looked from the outside.
So, when should NZ Rugby make its mind up about Foster if the end of the year is too late?
The end of The Rugby Championship is a natural break in the test season, and it concludes with two tests against the Springboks. What more could NZ Rugby hope to learn about Foster after that?
Some may even argue that even those tests are leaving it too late, as the second test against the Springboks doesn’t happen until October 2.
If Foster retains the Bledisloe Cup – particularly if they beat the Wallabies 3-0 – there is a reasonable argument that NZ Rugby should make its move then.
The reality is NZ Rugby may never get a nice, ‘clean’ time to make a decision on Foster, but they can still be fair. If they wait too long it’ll hinder Foster from doing the job they are judging him on: and then the All Blacks will suffer.