Lucky Maree
ON THE BALL: With the Rugby World Cup a mere 14 months away, can the management of New Zealand Rugby take the risk of getting rid of All Blacks coach Ian Foster, asks Lucky Maree.
“Not acceptable.”
Those are the words used by New Zealand Rugby’s chief executive, Mark Robinson, when asked about the All Blacks performance after they lost the third test and the three match series against Ireland.
After the match, Johnny Sexton, understandably overjoyed about Ireland’s victory over the All Blacks, said (more than once): “We have beaten the world’s best team!” The world’s best?
The truth is that the first four top ranked teams, including Ireland, could all claim to be the best. (Ironically, France, currently the top ranked team in the world, are considered by many to be less than the best.)
But whatever the rest of the rugby playing world might think, Robinson’s words echo the sentiment of most New Zealanders, who, like very few countries in the world, consider Rugby Union to be their national sport. They believe that New Zealand should be the top team whatever the rankings might say.
New Zealand social media agrees with Robinson – but in much more colourful language. And it appears that they all, almost without exception, blame Ian Foster. While not exactly demanding that he should be put up against a wall and shot as a traitor, most All Blacks fans clearly wouldn’t mind if he fell on his sword – or fell under a bus.
Taking over from a legend like Steve Hansen was never going to be an easy ask, but Foster has really not covered himself in glory – as he never has throughout his career as coach.
(The Chiefs made the Super Rugby finals in 2004 and the final in 2009 with Foster as coach, but he only had a 50% win ratio with the Chiefs.)
What are the chances that by the time you read this, Foster may already have been fired? Not bad actually. The clock is ticking. The Rugby World Cup is just around the corner. Baying for blood is what fans do, mostly without any logical reasons or sensible suggestions. (“Foster is a ** idiot! He must just bugger off!” is not a logical argument, although often seen on Twitter.)
But in the New Zealand Rugby boardroom, the senior managers will have many considerations to weigh up. One of the questions they will have to ask themselves is why they appointed him in the first place. If they knew he had a 50-50 kind of record, how did they expect him to be different?
Another, probably more pressing consideration, are the upcoming Rugby Championship matches.
It would be brave of New Zealand Rugby to show Foster the door now with the All Blacks facing South Africa, Australia and Argentina between 6 August and 24 September.
If they do replace him with successful Blues head coach Leon MacDonald (as suggested by John Kirwin on The Breakdown) that would be a good choice. But if MacDonald fails that would leave them further up the creek without a paddle.
But if they don’t replace Foster now, they are another two months closer to the World Cup, and if Foster fails, what do they do then?
There is an alternative, of course. Don’t bet your entire salary on the All Blacks losing the Rugby Championship. Winning is a strong part of New Zealand rugby culture.
