Is clock ticking for Foster?
All Blacks’ results deemed ‘‘unacceptable’’ by NZ Rugby boss
Ian Foster’s coaching job is not under obvious threat but his New Zealand Rugby boss has made it clear the All Blacks’ performances were ‘‘unacceptable’’ in their series defeat to Ireland.
Foster refused to take questions on his future at the post-match press conference on Saturday night, and his regular Sunday morning press briefing was cancelled at late notice.
New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson took the rare step of issuing a stronglyworded press statement yesterday, saying the series was under immediate review.
‘‘Congratulations to the Irish team for their well-deserved win last night but clearly the performance across the series for the All Blacks was not acceptable as we know they have reflected,’’ Robinson said.
‘‘We all know there is a huge amount of work to do. Our focus now is to work with Ian and his team to understand thoroughly in advance of the Rugby Championship what is needed to improve performance and where to from here. We will begin this work immediately.’’
It is rare for New Zealand Rugby to issue such a statement in the middle of the All Blacks’
season, indicating there is considerable disquiet at the team losing a series at home for the first time since 1994.
Foster’s failure to front the Sunday press briefing caught reporters gathered at the team’s Wellington hotel by surprise, with no official reason given for its cancellation.
Asked by a reporter to explain why his media stand-up was no longer going ahead as he walked to the team bus, Foster replied: ‘‘No idea’’.
Foster had earlier refused to answer multiple questions about his future as coach during Saturday’s post-match press conference.
Foster said twice that he would rather just talk about the game.
‘‘I just want to talk about this test match,’’ he said.
An All Blacks media manager stepped in when Foster was asked if he wanted to remain All Blacks coach.
Foster is contracted through to next year’s Rugby World Cup.
The All Blacks lost the series against Ireland 2-1 after falling to a 32-22 defeat in the deciding match in Wellington.
They trailed 22-3 at halftime after producing one of their worst first-half performances in recent memory.
A late comeback never eventuated despite scoring three tries in the second half to close the deficit to five points at one stage before Ireland pulled away to clinch back-to-back wins.
Tries to Akira Ioane and Will Jordan which came in quick succession were scored when Ireland had been reduced to 14 men following the sin-binning of prop Andrew Porter for a head collision with Brodie Retallick.
Retallick broke a cheekbone during the collision and is now in serious doubt for the Rugby Championship, which is due to begin with two tests against the Springboks in South Africa early next month.
When All Blacks coach Ian Foster had his contract extended by NZ Rugby through to the 2023 World Cup, he used the words ‘‘certainty’’ and ‘‘stability’’ to say why his bosses made the right call.
It also meant Foster could plan for the future without sweating about the prospect of being axed.
That was in August. Now 11 months later, Foster has been summoned to attend a meeting with NZ Rugby to explain what has gone so wrong.
What happened immediately after Foster re-signed appeared to indicate that NZ Rugby had made the right call.
With the Bledisloe Cup secured after a big win over the Wallabies in Auckland, the All Blacks completed a 3-0 clean-sweep in Perth.
So far, so good.
The All Blacks then won the Rugby Championship title. Two victories over the Pumas, followed by a win and a loss against the Springboks, ensured another trophy was added to the war chest.
The 31-29 defeat to the Boks exposed deficiencies in the All Blacks’ set-up, but given the championship was already won it was considered a valuable lesson rather than a calamity.
Not ideal, but still pretty good. Next up was the trip to the northern hemisphere. As expected, the All Blacks stitched together victories over the United States, an under-strength Wales and Italy.
It was in Dublin and Paris where the wheels began to fall off.
Foster’s plans to end 2021 with a flourish were destroyed as the All Blacks were outplayed by Ireland and France at Aviva Stadium and Stade de France.
Yet it was still relatively easy to find excuses. It always is. After almost three months of travel during the pandemic, the All Blacks failed to match their
opponents’ energy, were beatenup in the forwards and their attack was too inaccurate under extreme pressure.
The tour had ended in disaster. Yet NZ Rugby stood by its man. In return, it expected Foster, who retained all his assistants after an internal review, to ensure the All Blacks set the record straight against the touring Ireland team.
Instead, Ireland’s historic 2-1 series win ripped back the skin of the All Blacks’ beast to reveal multiple weaknesses.
Now, everything is under scrutiny.
NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson labelled the first series loss in New Zealand as ‘‘unacceptable’’ and said representatives from his organisation would immediately meet with Foster before the All Blacks depart for South Africa to play the first two tests of the Rugby Championship.
This suggests Foster will be retained for the championship.
Foster will be able to produce a raft of excuses during the summit meeting with his bosses. Ireland, for starters, are a very good team. Foster could say Covid-19 and injuries disrupted preparations in the first two weeks.
He may also point out that Ireland prop Andrew Porter should have received a red card for breaking lock Brodie
Retallick’s cheek bone in a dangerous tackle in Wellington, given Angus Ta’avao was sent -off for a similar offence in the second test in Dunedin.
Yet none of this could explain why the All Blacks, having won the first test 42-19 in Auckland, found extra gears in reverse when they should have been charging even harder out of the gates.
In the decider it was excruciating to watch the All Blacks botch four lineouts in the first half, concede tries off lineout drives and ram nails into their own burial casket through handling errors.
Ireland deserved the victory. It would be ungracious for any New Zealand rugby fans to state otherwise.
NZ Rugby knows it has a problem: Robinson’s decision to take the rare step of putting out a public statement speaks volumes.
Foster is in a hole. He has to dig his way out, but only if NZ Rugby allows him to get his hands back on the shovel.
In the meeting NZ Rugby must satisfy itself Foster is the right man to keep coaching the All Blacks.
As ex-All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen liked to say, they must be prepared to go bone-deep.
To do otherwise would do the All Blacks, and their fans, a disservice.