'He's not the coach a lot of people thought he was 10 years ago'
New All Black coach Ian Foster deserves more respect than he’s getting according to his old boss.
Departed coach Steve Hansen has called on All Black supporters to back Foster and his new team.
In a lengthy interview with Newstalk ZB’s Martin Devlin, Hansen said the 2007 World Cup quarterfinal defeat to France and the drawn series with the British and Irish Lions two years ago remain his greatest disappointments.
He is extremely proud of his record and said the 2019 semifinal defeat against England would “not define myself”.
But Hansen was clearly aware that Foster, his longtime assistant, is lacking anything close to universal support among fans, many of whom supported the Crusaders’ title-winning coach Scott Robertson.
Continue reading below…
“It’s time to sit back and let him (Foster) take over and enjoy watching without all the pressure that comes with being the coach,” Hansen said.
“Yeah I’m happy (with Foster’s appointment)… look I think we had two outstanding candidates. Scott Robertson is a very, very good coach in his own right and could well have done a very good too.
“Fossie is also a very good coach in his own right, and probably a coach at the moment who a lot of people aren’t giving the respect he probably deserves, because he is a very good coach.
“He’s not the coach a lot of people thought he was 10 years ago. None of us are.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5_0QHpgVwD/
“The important thing I think now is everybody who supports the All Blacks gets in behind him. I think back to my time when I took over from Ted (Graham Henry), a lot of people thought I didn’t deserve to get the job. You’ve got to give people an opportunity.
“They’ve decided Fossie is the man to do the job we’ve all got to get in behind them and support them.”
Hansen’s advice to Foster was: “Be yourself, you’re good enough, trust your own instincts because they’re good.”
On other matters, Hansen said New Zealand rugby could not become complacent about player development, saying the quality production line was under threat.
“The biggest thing we’ve got to work on is our underage development because there are so many people wanting our players,” he said.
"They need to knock down the castle and build it again." ‼️https://t.co/MRqWCTIhcG
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 12, 2019
“It’s getting harder and harder as the game gets more and more professional to keep them here in NZ. The money is very hard to compete with and we don’t have a lot of.
“We have a nursery of good players and everyone comes here for the players, just like they do for the coaches. We’ve seen a number of coaches snapped up as well.
“There’s plenty of talent, we’ve just got to make sure we don’t get too confident about it, and think that it’s always going to be there. We’ve got to keep working hard at developing it.”
He blamed travel fatigue for the All Blacks’ increased struggles on northern hemisphere tours, saying: “We go around the world twice…seven tests in nine weeks is fatiguing. We’ve dropped games up there in recent times because we’ve just been hanging in from a fatigue point of view.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5_j64tgKYd/
“If we want true global game…if we want the Super Rugby champions to play the European champions, the Six Nations champions to play our four nations champions, we’ve got to find time in the windows.
“We have to invent better ways, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, cutting down some of the travel. Some of our governing bodies have to look at what they are doing.”
Hansen said the 2019 World Cup defeat to England was “still painful” but the rest of the tournament was pretty good and there could be no complaints about the semifinal loss.
“I think ’07 (when he was Graham Henry’s World Cup assistant) is still the most disappointing,” he said.
In eight years of @SuperRugby with the Chiefs, Ian Foster failed to win any silverware. That on its own is a terrible metric of how Foster will perform as @AllBlacks coach, however, writes @TomVinicombe.https://t.co/ihbMZoELWX#SuperRugby @ChiefsRugby
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 12, 2019
“I was pretty disappointed with the Lions, the way that went down, to draw a game in the final test, with a pretty average (refereeing) decision made at the end. You want a clear cut result, but whenever you lose it is disappointing.”
And don’t expect Steve Hansen to critique his All Black successors.
“The job is hard enough without having former All Black coaches or former All Black players dishing dirt on how the team is going,” said Hansen, who has a short term coaching role with Toyota in Japan.
“You’ve just got to give people space to do their job and understand when you’ve been there yourself you know how hard it is.
“We’ve got a good man who has taken over, he’ll surround himself with good people I’m sure, we’ll let him get on the job and I’m sure we’ll get great results.”
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Ian Foster’s two-year contract could open the door for some other head coach contenders if things turn pear-shaped:
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments