Ian Foster is not the answer while NZR need to decide the fate of seven All Blacks

When Jordie Barrett was asked at a Hurricanes media event at NZCIS on Wednesday what accountability players take for the demise of Scott Robertson as All Blacks coach, the All Blacks vice-captain shut down the topic quicker than a surly Winston Peters. The press inquiries made less headway than Barrett did, running into Pieter-Steph du Toit during the 2023 Rugby World Cup final.

Robertson’s supposed character flaws, relationships with staff, and tactical and selection errors have faced intense scrutiny, revealing a muddled picture that NZR Chair David Kirk believed needed swifter action than his clearances from halfback as an All Black Rugby World Cup-winning captain in 1987.

What’s missing from the “Razor Rumble” is a closer microscope on the players, especially the senior leadership group, which remains largely unchanged since the chaotic start to the 2022 season.

Hamish Bidwell, Scotty Stevenson, Ben Smith and Mark Reason are scribes who have bucked this trend and raised some pertinent questions about players. Even former New Zealand Rugby Performance Coach and three-time Rugby World Cup winner “Professor”  Sir Wayne Smith said.

“Disaffected players speak behind your back and get to rubbish you, incognito, during end-of-campaign reviews…Social media, hidden behind nicknames and alter egos, can tear you apart without remorse.”

Intriguing, too, has been the revisionist history regarding Ian Foster’s coaching reign. Some have even suggested the Waikato battler should be reinstated as head coach, citing his considerable international experience and strong relationships with existing players.

While an advisory role wouldn’t be harmful, and one couldn’t help but be sympathetic to the appalling treatment he received from NZR when his job was under threat in 2022, it’s worth reminding ourselves that Foster had the worst winning percentage of any All Blacks coach in the professional era, with 32 wins from 46 Tests (69.56%). This includes a record of just five wins in 14 Tests against South Africa, France and Ireland, countries consistently ranked among the top three in the world during Foster’s tenure.

There has been no public comment from John Plumtree or Brad Mooar about why they were sacked as assistants in 2022. Perhaps this suggests they weren’t up to the task, but silence is not proof.

Furthermore, Foster was the first coach to lose a home series since 1994, when the All Blacks were beaten by Ireland in 2022. He was the first All Blacks coach to lose to Argentina on neutral soil and in New Zealand. He was the first All Blacks coach to lose a pool game after 31 matches in the Rugby World Cup. Additionally, the 27-13 defeat to France in 2023 was the All Blacks’ biggest loss at a Rugby World Cup.

Would a return to Ian Foster as head coach of the All Blacks be regressive?

The All Blacks were unquestionably better when Jason Ryan and Joe Schmidt were installed as assistant coaches after the Irish series defeat in July 2022. The All Blacks’ record under Foster before the inclusion of Ryan and Schmidt was 16 wins, 7 defeats and a draw. This includes a hundred-point thrashing of Tonga and the USA and two half-centuries against Fiji.

The record after Ryan and Schmidt joined was 16 wins, five losses, and a draw. Though this includes drubbings of Uruguay, Namibia and Italy at the Rugby World Cup in 2023, two of the All Blacks’ best-ever wins were against South Africa at Ellis Park in Johannesburg in 2022 and against Ireland in the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final. Without Ryan and Schmidt and Sir Wayne Smith and Sir Steve Hansen as assistants between 2012 and 2019, Foster’s record doesn’t stack up.

Robertson won 20 of 27 Tests but lost Leon MacDonald and Jason Holland as assistants. Many of the same inconsistencies from 2020 to 2023 continued under Razor. Since 2021, the All Blacks have been 4-7 against the Springboks.

Is there a staunch player clique holding the All Blacks back?

Is it time to give influential youngsters like Cam Roigard or Tupou Vaa’i, a former head prefect at Wesley College, greater leadership roles? Is the potential of players like Stephen Perrofea and Ruben Love being wasted by an ageing cohort?

Scott, Jordie and Beauden Barrett, Codie Taylor, Ardie Savea, Rieko Ioane and Anton Lienert-Brown are all players capped more than 50 times who have been part of the failed attempts to win the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups.

These seven individuals have significant sway over All Blacks leadership and tactics. How do their performances rate since 2020?

Scott Barrett

Tests Since 2020: 53
Wins Since 2020: 39

Notes: The lock brings a physical edge to match his impressive work rate, but has a reputation for lacking discipline and is the only All Black sent off twice, the first time against Australia in Perth in 2019. While reliable in lineout play, he is not an extraordinary jumper like Maro Itoje.

Still, he’s part of a family that has played more than 300 Tests combined; the enormity of that contribution will be better appreciated once all three Barretts have retired. It took 567 Tests and 115 years for a trio of brothers to play together when Beauden, Scott and Jordie Barrett all played against France at Eden Park, Auckland in 2018.

Became All Blacks captain at the start of the Scott Robertson era in 2024 and has led his country to 14 wins in 20 Tests. This is the second-lowest winning percentage of any All Blacks captain with 20 Tests, except Taine Randall.

It’s been reported that Barrett is something of a reluctant captain. This was best illustrated by Mark Reason in his Stuff column, “The man who brought down Scott Robertston.”

Not only did Barrett preside over the Springboks’ 36-0 second-half in the All Blacks’ heaviest ever defeat in Wellington in 2025, but he also made some crucial errors in judgment in the loss to England, which cost the All Blacks a Grand Slam in November.

Barrett turned down two kickable penalties, allowed Cam Roigard to kick for touch from a penalty—a task he never performs and failed to achieve—and then instructed Leicester Fainga’anuku to pack down on a scrum when the All Blacks were down to 14 men. Reason wrote that those decisions resulted in something like a 20-point swing.

“It was heartbreaking. Scott Barrett is a fine soldier. You would want him in the trenches with you. But some are born to lead, some are born to follow. Siya Kolisi was born to lead, Scott Barrett was born to follow.”

Barrett is 4-7 against South Africa since 2021, has lost twice to Argentina, and lost two out of three against France. He was badly missed in the deciding Test against Ireland in Wellington in 2022.

Ardie Savea

Tests Since 2020: 62
Wins Since 2020: 41

The All Blacks Player of the Year in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2025, Savea was also the Kelvin Tremain Memorial Player of the Year in 2019, 2023, and 2025. He has started 46 of the last 50 Tests and is unquestionably the best player in New Zealand. He holds the All Blacks record for most Test tries by a forward with 31.

His inspirational captaincy of Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby Pacific in 2025, when the struggling franchise doubled its victories from 2024, showcased the kind of high-energy leadership Savea can provide.

Yet as All Blacks captain, he has the same winning percentage as Scott Barrett, with two of his seven wins against hapless Namibia and Italy at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The collapse against Argentina in Wellington in 2024 happened on Savea’s watch.

What possibilities exist with Savea as a regular skipper? He has been a captain since high school, and several players and pundits speak of his natural leadership.

Could Savea’s occasionally outspoken social media ruffle too many feathers among officialdom, sponsors, and teammates?

Savea is a disciplined and consistent player, though he is the only one in this list to feature in all seven defeats against South Africa, four against Argentina, and three each against Ireland and France since 2021.

All Blacks Tests Captained By Ardie Savea

2021: South Africa, 19-17
2021: South Africa, 29-31
2023: Australia, 38-7
2023: France, 13-27
2023: Namibia, 71-3
2023: Italy, 96-17
2024: Argentina, 30-38
2024: Argentina, 42-10
2025: France, 43-17
2025: France, 29-19

Beauden Barrett

Tests Since 2020: 61
Wins Since 2020: 43

Notes: From his debut for the All Blacks in 2012 through 2019, Barrett won 72 of 83 Tests (86.74%). In the last six seasons, his winning percentage dropped to 70.49%.

While Barrett is still capable of brilliant moments like his display in the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Ireland, he is a shadow of the player who won World Rugby Player of the Year in 2016 and 2017.

At 34, he has lost some of the blistering pace that marked his early career.

The All Blacks’ declining try statistics illustrate their loss of edge. While this cannot be pinned entirely on Barrett as a central playmaker, he has a major stake in the attack.

The All Blacks scored 287 tries between 2016 and 2019. Between 2022 and 2025, they scored 227 tries. In 2025, they scored 50 tries in 13 Tests, with 21 against the weakened French tourists and eight against hapless Wales, who managed four tries.

Since 2020, while playing first-five-eighth, Ireland has beaten Barrett in four matches between 2021 and 2022. Barrett has lost three of his last four Tests as a starting ten against South Africa.

Damian McKenzie started 10 Tests at first-five eighth in 2024 and won seven, losing twice to South Africa. Barrett had the same record in 2025, though he was an assured presence in the 24-17 win against South Africa at Eden Park, which preserved the All Blacks’ 52-game unbeaten streak at the fabled venue since 1994.

As a starting fullback, Barrett was successful at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but he has only won 15 of 22 Tests, which is more than ten per cent below his career winning average.

McKenzie has won eight of nine Tests as starting fullback, though that includes three against Australia, two against Fiji, and wins over the USA and Uruguay.

By the end of 2023, Barrett had been a replacement in 40 Tests and lost only once. His most memorable contributions include scoring a try in the 2015 Rugby World Cup final and 26 points against Wales in 2016.

Barrett reprised his super sub exploits in a 24-17 salvage job against England at Eden Park in 2025, but he could not make an impact in an 18-12 loss to the Springboks in Cape Town in 2024. The All Blacks did not score a try.

Who is better suited to the super sub role now? McKenzie and Barrett offer similar attributes. McKenzie’s sideline conversion against England to win at Twickenham in late 2024 and his try against Scotland at Murrayfield in 2025 might tip the scales in the Chiefs talisman’s favour.

Jordie Barrett

Tests Since 2020: 61
Wins Since 2020: 42

Notes: Had moments like kicking a long-range penalty to win the All Blacks the 100th test against the Springboks in 2021 and scoring a try on the hooter to win a Bledisloe Cup Test against Australia in Melbourne in 2023. His ability to cover multiple positions in the backline is appealing.

Became a regular second-fifth-eighth in 2023, and his presence in midfield bolstered the All Blacks at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Of the 28 tackles man of the match Pieter-Steph du Toit made in the Rugby World Cup final, nine were on Barrett. The conditions were tricky, but could there have been some adjustment to the attack?

Barrett was 14-6 in the 12 jersey under Scott Robertson, and the All Blacks scored fewer tries in 2024 than in 2025. Barrett is 4-7 against the Springboks since 2021.

Rieko Ioane

Tests Since 2020: 60
Wins Since 2020: 41

Notes: Rieko Ioane was one of the hottest commodities in international rugby when he burst on the scene a decade ago. In his first 18 Tests as a winger, he scored 18 tries, winning World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2017 and nominated for World Player of the Year in 2018.

In his last 70 Tests, Ioane has scored 21 tries, and there was a horror barren streak in all first-class rugby where he played 44 games and scored just three tries.

Do his declining scoring stats illustrate a diminishing vibrancy?

Ioane started four Tests on the wing in 2021 before he was shifted to centre for the last two Tests of that season, losses to Ireland and France. Except for two appearances off the bench, Ioane remained the starting centre for 33 consecutive Tests between 2022 and 2024. There was a mesmerising display in the 35-23 win against South Africa at Ellis Park in 2022, a victory that saved Ian Foster’s job. Ioane’s defensive qualities are highly regarded, but his regular tenure at centre coincides with a decline in the All Blacks’ attacking productivity.

In 2025, he was shifted back to the wing for four Tests, a move that failed. Ioane has lost pace, and the current role of a winger demands a player who can defuse high kicks and kick themselves. Ioane played only half of the All Blacks’ 2025 Tests.

Can the 28-year-old get a new lease of life after his sabbatical with Leinster, which has started with six consecutive wins?

Anton Lienert-Brown

Tests Since 2020: 45
Wins Since 2020: 31

Notes: Lienert-Brown has missed 39% of all possible Tests since 2020 and has been a substitute 22 times in the Tests he’s played in this period. Injury has significantly reduced his role, though he featured in all 14 Tests in 2024.

David Havili, Braydon Ennor, Billy Proctor, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Quinn Tupaea are among those who have played in midfield, and, with the exception of Tupaea, who had a strong 2025, all have failed to nail down a position or have been given limited opportunities to excel. Is that a reflection of the discarded’s lack of impact or a sturdy Lierent-Brown?

Lienert-Brown won 35 of his first 44 Tests and was noted for his solid defence and ability to create holes with his offloading. He struggled to recapture his early spark? He was hobbling to the finish line in 2025.

Codie Taylor

Tests Since 2020: 56
Wins Since 2020: 40

Despite stiff competition from Dane Coles until 2019 and explosive talents Asafo Aumua and Samisoni Taukei’aho, Taylor has got better as he’s got older.

His first half-century with 39 wins in 50 Tests was impressive. He was a member of the 2015 Rugby World Cup squad.

The next 56 Tests, except for an absolute shocker in a 25-18 loss to Argentina in Christchurch in 2022 and a costly yellow card against England in 2025, have largely been excellent.

Taylor has an exceptional work rate and a knack for scoring tries, with 23 in 106 Tests, equal to Dane Coles.

At the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the All Blacks boasted a 98.1% success rate leading into the semi-final, having failed to retain only one of 52 throws. In the semi-final, they were 10/12 and in the final 20/22.

In 2024, the All Blacks won 86% of their throws, which was more than their opponents. In 2025, the All Blacks lineout won 182 throws and lost only 27.

“Cody’s 8%” has largely hit the mark.