'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.
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“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.
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“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.
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“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
Can someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
227 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
3 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
86 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
29 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
227 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
227 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
19 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
19 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to comments