Ian Foster: 'You kid yourself that we were robbed'

More than one year on from the Rugby World Cup final in Paris, former All Blacks head coach Ian Foster says he can’t help but continue to revisit the game in his head.

The Test brought a 12-year All Blacks coaching career – the final four of which were spent as head coach – to a dramatic close for Foster, who succeeded Sir Steve Hansen as head coach of the side following the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Having now reunited with Hansen at Toyota Verblitz in Japan, Foster says he has moved on from his tumultuous head coaching tenure with the team, although certain moments from the final do continue to haunt him.

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“You can tell by my body language that yes, I do go back to it. You can’t not go back to it,” Foster told DSPN with Martin Devlin after shuffling in his chair while he searched for the words to describe his feelings about the match.

“I go back to it with a lot of pride with where the team got to, and to get to that final on the big stage and get so close, I was actually so proud with that but also incredibly disappointed that we didn’t cross the line.

“I like to focus more on things that we could control, things that maybe we could have done a little bit better and so I think you kid yourself that we were robbed you end up becoming a little bit cynical and you end up blaming other people for it.

“So, for me, we did what we had to do but we weren’t quite good enough to get the result and that’s the game. It’s probably what World Cup finals are about, they’re about tension and drama and you’d have to say I delivered that pretty well.”

It was indeed a match not lacking in drama as New Zealand were reduced to 14 men but continued to fight tooth and nail into the dying moments before succumbing to a one-point defeat.

Foster rejecting the notion his side were robbed is in stark contrast with Steve Hansen’s view, who on the same podcast last week claimed: “This is a team that should have won the World Cup, they were robbed of the World Cup as far as I’m concerned with some poor decisions that were out of their control which cost them a World Cup.”

Foster’s fate was already decided despite his team eliminating World No. 1 ranked Ireland in the quarter-final and pummeling Argentina to book their ticket to rugby’s grandest stage. Scott Robertson was named as his replacement seven months ahead of the World Cup.

Having taken some time for himself in 2024, Foster has now returned to an assistant coaching role after turning down international coaching opportunities.

“Look, I love coaching. I gave myself a decent window of time after the World Cup just to wind down and figure out what was next. I thought club land was the way to go rather than looking at the international stage. Particularly with a real desire not to coach against the All Blacks at least for the near future.

“That’s why I am where I am and not regretting it for a moment. I’m really enjoying the good people up thre, it’s a club that’s highly motivated.

“They haven’t won much in the past and they see this as a real opportunity for them so I’m excited by their ambition.”