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'Publicly I said I didn't care': Ian Foster reveals revenge motivation in Ireland quarter-final
By Ben Smith
Former All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has revealed that his preferred quarter-final opponent at last year’s Rugby World Cup was in fact Ireland.
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With the Rugby World Cup draw putting the top four sides on the same side of the draw, it was known for a long time that the All Blacks would meet either South Africa, Ireland or Scotland in a high stakes quarter-final.
The 2022 series defeat to Ireland which put heavy scrutiny on the All Blacks and the head coach himself built up a well of emotion for the squad, which led to a motivation to pay Ireland back for the hurt.
Foster admitted that “deep down” he wanted the Ireland match-up as the squad took a vengeful mindset towards the game.
“I wanted to play Ireland,” Foster said on All Blacks: In Their Own Words 2.
“I was always asked who I wanted to play [Ireland or South Africa], and publicly I said I didn’t care. But deep down, I wanted to play Ireland [in the quarter-final].
“I think the public were nervous, I think they were smart enough to know what the quarter-final was going to be like.”
In a pre-match All Blacks leadership meeting before the quarter-final, halfback Aaron Smith revealed to the group that he had been “waiting 18 months” to play this team on the big stage to pay them back.
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“We’d planned all year on how we could stop Ireland the best we could,” Smith said.
“The Irish were very confident, you could tell, but they had every right to be.”
Ireland entered the game on a 17 game winning streak and held the number one world ranking at time.
Captain Sam Cane, who also came under immense scrutiny following the 2-1 series defeat, shared how he felt about Ireland.
“Although we don’t talk about these things as a team, we don’t talk about Ireland, in the back of your mind, you remember it,” Cane said.
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“We remember the feeling of losing in Dunedin, in Wellington, you remember those feelings. We’ve let New Zealand down, we’ve let the jersey down.”
Blah blah blah. The Foster/Cane era was rubbish. The fact that Argentina walloped us twice about sums it up. Even with the late recruitment of Jase Ryan & Joe Schmidt, Foster still managed to achieve the worst record for ABs coaches, who coached the ABs for at least 30 tests & at least 40 tests. Thank goodness it’s over.
Although they were a super tough opponent, in choosing between them and France I think everyone would have preferred to play Ireland. They obviously had a point to prove against them, but they were also far more familiar with that team. NZ had played France once in the past 5 years, and many people in the team would never have played them or any of their players before, and certainly not the latest incarnation.
Looking back it now I have to laugh 😂. Because how do you lose to Ian fosters All Blacks . Imagine being number 1 in the world and losing to Ian fosters All Blacks .
The Irish coach just had to rest the core players and get them as fresh as possible . If Ireland beat the All Blacks up front , they make it past the quarter finals for the first time in there history .
But for some reason the win streak was that important they went to the quarterfinals undefeated and lost to Ian fosters All Blacks 🤣 .
I still don’t know how they won the first game in that series. Can Irish fans tell, from time and replays, what happened in that QF?
No one answers those sorts of arsenine questions honestly.
Hopefully the next coach will realise the importance of preparing for more than just one team. While being motivated by something more sustainable than revenge would also be a plus.
I don’t get why Foster would say he didn’t care when he actually did.
A few of the All Blacks publicly stated they wanted to play Ireland in the quarter final before the game.
Ireland had beaten them at home, were ranked No.1, and were on a 17 game winning streak.
Of course they preferred to play Ireland.
You’d swear they won the World Cup