ABs coaching contenders
Just the two of us
Something old, something new, it’s now a big decision between these two. Just like that, an All Blacks coaching race which started out with 26 invited candidates, is all of a sudden a two-horse race, between Ian Foster and Scott Robertson.
News this week of Jamie Joseph re-signing with Japan and Dave Rennie being snapped up by Australia means New Zealand Rugby essentially has a straight shootout on its hands for the top job.
Here you have two men where ‘chalk and cheese’ spring to mind.
On one side is ‘Fozzie’, the mildmannered All Blacks assistant, whose eight years in the oft-spouted ‘environment’ offers continuity and an innate knowledge of what has gone before.
That same man, though, aged 54, has had little success in his time as a head coach. In a combined 10 seasons with Waikato in the NPC and the Chiefs in Super Rugby he has no titles to show, with a win rate just above 50 per cent.
Then, on the other side stands ‘Razor’, the lively 45-year-old, who offers the chance for a breath of fresh air and a clean start in the wake of a failed World Cup campaign.
In striking difference to Foster, Robertson’s head coaching record is remarkable – six titles in seven years with Canterbury and the Crusaders, and a win percentage close to 85.
Even their on-field times had a contrasting look.
Foster, a first five-eighth, is Waikato’s most-capped player (148 games) but never quite made the All Blacks, in a career which ran from 1985-1998 – the same year Robertson, a No 8 who started at Bay of Plenty, then shifted to Canterbury, made the first of his 23 test appearances.
HOW THEY OPERATE
Foster will be articulate and thoughtful in his presentation to the panel. That’s the way he is.
Robertson, who has overcome dyslexia, will no doubt provide some quirks. Sometimes you struggle to get the cleanest quotes out of him. But by all accounts, he blew away those sitting in on his Crusaders interview.
Someone who knows both styles well is former Crusaders and All Blacks prop Wyatt Crockett, having played under both men during his career.
He also had Foster in 2006-2007 when he was co-coach of the Junior All Blacks, and said a big strength was his astute, analytical mind.
‘‘He’s a very deep thinker of the game,’’ Crockett tells Stuff.
‘‘I think they’ve got quite a unique way of looking at the game, first-fives, as coaches.
‘‘He’s quite different to the likes of a Shag [Steve Hansen], who can be a little bit more confrontational and a bit more excitable. Fozzie’s pretty quietly spoken, goes about his business without too much fuss, but obviously he knows what he’s talking about.’’
Foster is said to be a great manmanager who cares deeply about his players.
But could he still go on playing that same quieter, reserved-type role in the top job? Doubtful, Crockett says.
‘‘It probably depends a little bit who he’s coaching with. But I think he would have to change.
‘‘Steve [Hansen] definitely changed when he went to head coach. He took on more of that motivational side of things.
‘‘It’ll be interesting to see if
Fozzie was able to motivate the guys if he was a head coach.’’
That is certainly something that wouldn’t be a problem with Robertson.
As soon as he started with the Crusaders ahead of the 2017 season, Crockett says Robertson brought ‘‘a real freshness to a group that’d been around for a while. It was really exciting, and it was a nice change’’.
One coach who has worked with Robertson, and who wishes to remain nameless, told Stuff it was that natural vitality which had moulded all of his successful teams.
‘‘One of Razor’s great strengths is he’s an energy creator,’’ the coach says.
‘‘He’s always been really innovative, outside the box. He’s colourful in his language, and players kind of enjoy that. He can be really candid with them. And players respect candour.
‘‘He’s very relatable. He wants to build strong relationships, and to do that you need to get their perspective on lots of things.
‘‘He’s a social person, he enjoys connecting with people.’’
That connection works in both good times as well as tough. In Crockett’s final season of Super Rugby last year he had to cop being left out of the side for the semifinal and final. No fairytale finish.
‘‘It was hard for me to take, but I understood it and it made sense to me, so that made it easier to deal with,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s about how you execute those decisions, and how you explain it to the player, because they are big moments in people’s lives. And I think Razor really understood that and was really good about it.’’
SUCCESS AND ADVERSITY
Despite Foster’s lack of success at domestic level, our anonymous coach says people should be careful on that judgment.
‘‘The roster you’re given determines 80 per cent of your success,’’ the coach says. ‘‘If you’ve got a fantastic roster, chances are you’re going to go deep into the
playoffs every year. Some of the best coaches don’t win titles. Only one coach in 15 teams in Super Rugby wins a title each year.’’
Since his Chiefs tenure, Foster has been in charge of a generally well-firing All Blacks attack.
No, they didn’t have any answers to an excellent England in that semifinal last month, but there are phenomenal numbers in between times.
In the most recent World Cup cycle, the All Blacks scored 287 tries, up a whopping 78 on their previous cycle. Those came at an average of 5.4 per game. Next-best of the top nations was England and Ireland, both with 3.5.
‘‘The All Blacks around attack have been phenomenal,’’ the coach says. ‘‘And he’s led that. They’ve innovated as they’ve gone along, they’ve done that with selection but they’ve also done that with the way the game’s played, they’ve done that with the kicking.’’
Crockett agrees that Foster should take a lot of credit for the way the men in black have been able to break defences open, though feels there still could have been some more plans introduced.
‘‘There was probably a little bit of continuity and keeping it the same,’’ he says of his time in the group. ‘‘And maybe that is something that they could have done more, a little bit more fresh thinking and some different ideas. Looking back on the World Cup, I think that’s something that they would have maybe regretted.’’
What about Robertson then? Has he almost been too successful for his own good?
It would be harsh to count that against him, says Crockett, who says Robertson has faced his own sorts of adversity along the way.
Career-threatening knee injuries as a player were one thing, before starting his coaching journey with some tough grind with Sumner – described by our unnamed coach as ‘‘a crap little club in his suburb where all the surfers live’’.
Starting out with Canterbury, Robertson had plenty of good coaches in front of him and had to bide his time, work hard and develop structures and coaching beliefs.
Then there was the 2016 New Zealand under-20s world championship, where Robertson oversaw a fifth-place finish and some scathing reviews of the campaign.
The big question our nameless coach would have around Robertson, though, is being immediately able to combat the difference required to operate at test level, where issues such as recruitment, travel, training schedules, off-field commitments and preparing for very differing opponents will be quite a change.
But Crockett notes a strength of Robertson’s is finding good people to complement him.
And there can be no doubting Robertson’s own hard-working attitude, despite his laid-back demeanour.
‘‘He’s often been described as Peter Pan – the kid that never grew up,’’ Crockett says. ‘‘He has the ability to relate to the players around him and speak their language.
‘‘Obviously a lot of times in the media he is pretty relaxed and pretty chilled. But when he’s coaching he is extremely serious. His attention to detail is as thorough as I’ve seen in any coach. And I’d include Wayne Smith and Robbie Deans in that.’’
In a year which has already delivered plenty of engrossing rugby matchups, this head-to-head battle promises one more beauty before 2019 is done.
Crockett on Foster
‘‘Pretty quietly spoken, goes about his business without too much fuss, but obviously he knows what he’s talking about.’’
Crockett on Robertson
‘‘When he’s coaching he is extremely serious. His attention to detail is as thorough as I’ve seen in any coach.’’