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Ian Foster's shock bombshell in response to NZR's announcement

Ian Foster speaks to media following the Japan Test. Photo by Kenta Harada/Getty Images

Following New Zealand Rugby’s announcement that the next All Blacks head coach will be announced in four to six weeks, current head coach Ian Foster has made a shock decision.

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After standing strong publicly and sharing a desire to hold the job past the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Foster has released a statement this afternoon confirming he won’t be re-applying for the job.

The All Blacks will have a new head coach in 2024 with Foster dropping out of contention.

The Rugby World Cup in France will be Foster’s last ride with the All Blacks after a tumultuous run that began in 2020 after the global pandemic.

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Crusaders coach Scott Robertson appears to be among the leading candidates for the position, along with Japan’s Jamie Joseph.

New Zealand Rugby shared Ian Foster’s comments on the All Blacks head coach appointment process.

“As I said last week, I felt the best thing for our team and for our entire management group was to have this process done after the Rugby World Cup. That hasn’t happened but we will accept the decision and move on,” Foster said.

“My sole focus remains unchanged. It is to lead this All Blacks team and management group in our planning and preparation so that we go to France with the goal of winning the Rugby World Cup and making this country proud.

“I won’t be re-applying for the job of head coach.”

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The All Blacks have managed a record of 23 wins, 9 losses and 2 draws under Ian Foster, a win rate of 67.7 per cent.

A horror run from late 2021 through the 2022 season saw the side win just two from eight consecutive Tests as they suffered defeats to France, Ireland, South Africa and Argentina.

However, through the rough run of results the All Blacks have been able to retain the Bledisloe Cup, the Freedom Cup and have won all the SANZAAR titles in the three years under Foster.

 

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Comments

4 Comments
v
vP 845 days ago

Why should Foster stay? He isn't wanted and or being respected by the board. He should just save face and walk away now. Te-Awa-Mutu Sports for ever.

N
Nickers 846 days ago

Other than Foster himself, his immediate family, and maybe Sam Cane, it's hard to imagine anyone being sad about this decision.

G
GL 846 days ago

Thank you and good riddance after the RWC

A
Andrew 846 days ago

Better late than never but if theABs were going to win the RWC it needed to happen last yr to give the new coach and selection panel time to fix all the deficiencies.

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fl 1 hour ago
‘Props are awesome…so why don’t they win prizes?’

“The reason most props don’t last the whole game is that they expend proportionally more effort than players outside the front row. Should they be penalised for that?”

No, they don’t last the whole game because they are less fit than players outside the front row. I’d be interested to know if you’d apply this logic to other positions; do PSDT and Itoje regularly last longer than other players in their positions because they put in less effort?

None of this is about “penalising” props, its about being realistic about their impact on a game.


“While scrums are a small part of the game in terms of time spent in them, they have disproportionate impact. Dominant scrums win games; feeble ones lose them.”

Strength at the breakdown wins games. Good kicking wins games. Good handling wins games. Strong defence wins games. Good lineouts win games. Ultimately, I think that of all these things, the scrum is probably the least important, because it demonstrably doesn’t correlate very well with winning games. I don’t think Rugbypass will allow me to link articles, but if you google “HG Rugby Crowning the Best Scrum in Club Rugby” you’ll get a pretty convincing analysis that ranks Toulouse and Bordeaux outside of the 10 best club sides in the scrum - and ranks Leinster outside of the top 30.


“Or there’s Joe Marler’s epic performance in the Bristol v Quins 2021 Premiership Semi-Final, in which he finally left the pitch 15 minutes into extra time having signed off with a try saving tackle.”

Yeah - that’s a good example actually, but it kind of disproves your point. Marler played 95 minutes, which is unheard of for a prop.


“Maybe we need a dedicated Hall of Fame with entry only for props, and voted for only by props.”

Well we have the World Rugby XV of the year. Its only been going for a few years, but in time it’ll be a pretty good record of who are perceived as best props - although the lack of interest most people have in scrums means that perception of who the best props are doesn’t always match reality (e.g. Tadgh Furlong was great in 2018 - but was he really the best tighthead in the world in 2021, 2022, & 2023?).

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