It was put up or shut up for a few All Blacks at Ellis Park
So now our sainted All Blacks are fairly and squarely behind their coach.
Well, where were they last week? What about the two games before that or the last two of last season?
Did they not back him then?
They win one game and suddenly they’re all Ian Foster fanatics? Spare me.
Look, I don’t know what happened to South Africa. I don’t know why they dropped Trevor Nyakane or relegated Malcolm Marx to the bench. I don’t know what to make of their crazy selections and haphazard substitutions and wonder if there are political imperatives at play.
More than anything I can’t, for the life of me, understand why they sought to beat the All Blacks at their own game at Ellis Park.
Maybe they got drunk on praise, maybe they thought they were unbeatable. But before All Blacks fans get too giddy on the back of one win themselves, I want to say that I think this was a game that the Springboks gave away.
I like the boring Boks. I don’t want to see them passing the ball and trying to create line breaks. I can’t believe they went away from what worked so well at Mbombela.
But back to our lot.
Good on them. You’re always a chance in a two-horse race and the All Blacks took theirs. Well done.
But are we honestly trying to pretend that all’s right in the world again and that Ian Foster is a visionary with a platform to now plot a path to Rugby World Cup glory?
It was put up or shut up for a few All Blacks at Ellis Park. Careers were on the line, not least the coach’s, and the team played pretty well.
But are we so starved of success that we think one game obliterates the memory of all the clobberings that led up to it?
I stand to be corrected, but I think that if New Zealand Rugby (NZR) had a willing and able replacement for Foster, he’d be in charge by now.
It might turn out that NZR are able to talk someone into taking the job, although you have to have doubts about their powers of persuasion.
The public hear and read media complaints about NZR and yawn. An unhappy journalist? Who cares?
But these past few weeks have given fans an insight into what journalists deal with year after year. Little of NZR’s business has ever been done in public – let alone its dirty washing aired – until now.
Well tell me, dear rugby enthusiast, how do you reckon Mark Robinson and company are going? Impressed so far?
They’re in danger of making Foster a sympathetic, even heroic, figure at this rate. I mean Robinson really couldn’t do more to undermine Foster if he tried.
You’d hardly back NZR to run a chook raffle, let alone a multi-billion-dollar business.
I just want to touch on Foster a minute and the “vicious’’ personal criticism he feels he’s been subjected to.
It’s my view that Foster came into the All Blacks’ head coaching role believing he was entitled to the same respect his predecessor Steve Hansen received.
I think he feels he hasn’t been afforded that. That unfair questions about his coaching capabilities have been raised and that there’s been a level of scrutiny placed upon his tenure that didn’t exist on Hansen’s watch.
Even previous media allies have, in Foster’s mind, cruelly turned against him.
Well, respect is earned, just as wins and losses are too. You are your record, when it comes to being head coach, and Foster’s record is a poor one.
Hansen didn’t have to put up with this rubbish, because his teams won. And won well.
Is Foster a potential victim of dissatisfaction with NZR and the “process’’ that saw him appointed coach? Sure. But that wouldn’t have been an issue if Foster’s team had won more often.
Hell, they’ve just won a game now – following an historic run of defeats – and people are suggesting he deserves to hang onto his job.
Winning solves everything and Foster hasn’t done enough of that as a head coach.
If he feels pointing that out is tantamount to picking on him, then perhaps he’s in the wrong profession.
As for the players? They front on the field for the first time in what feels like months and they want to tell us who should be head coach?
Wasn’t recommending the removal of assistants John Plumtree and Brad Mooar enough of an ego trip for them?
To go back to the top, if they are in such strong support of Ian Foster, why didn’t they bother to show it sooner? Why wait till the man’s head was on the chopping block?
The quicker NZR start showing some actual leadership, the quicker we can move on from these questions that continue to hover over the team.
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments