The All Blacks need to rekindle their emotional connection with fans
I’d like to see a rekindling of the emotional connection between the All Blacks and their fanbase.
If there was a journey that Ian Foster was taking the team on during his tenure, it didn’t feel as if he took that many of us with them.
I thought the team was aloof, thin-skinned, and defensive. There was an air that they were better than us, without any justification for believing so.
Being an All Black or All Blacks coach doesn’t entitle you to deference from the rest of us. There’s no right to respect simply because you hold a position that revered characters occupied before you.
You have to earn that yourself and I’m not sure Foster ever did.
In that regard, he created a team in his own image.
If the Crusaders do one thing better than most teams and franchises, it’s play for their people.
As much as the Crusaders’ success irritates much of the rugby populace, it’s arguably their parochial supporters that stick in the craw most. The term “one-eyed’’ was just about invented for Cantabrians.
Winning stokes a bit of that, but it overlooks the lengths Canterbury and the Crusaders go to ensure their fans feel the team are absolutely representing them. That they matter and that the team would only be half as good without them.
You can’t do siege mentality as a national team. It can’t be you against the rest of the world, you can’t have a disregard for everyone outside your exclusive group.
Scott Robertson will change that and he’ll need to, frankly.
Results might not be that flash in the first couple of years of his tenure. A number of seasoned campaigners won’t be available for selection and Robertson has to sell that to his new fanbase.
If we feel we’re part of the journey, then we’re more likely to forgive a hiccup or two.
I will give credit to Foster for one thing and that’s the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup performances.
There will always be suspicions about the degree to which he was the architect of things, once Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan came on board, but the team did play reasonably well at the World Cup.
They had three matches of consequence, beating Ireland in one of them and losing to South Africa and France in the others. Given how badly they’ve played for much of the last four years, the All Blacks were actually pretty good in those games.
But there’s no doubt Foster has left the team in a poorer place than he found it.
That matters because of everything that’s sacrificed in the name of All Blacks success.
The team has to win – and be likeable doing it – to justify the dilution of every team and competition below them.
They didn’t do that often enough under Foster and there’s no point in anyone pretending otherwise.
This isn’t a coaching era I’ll remember with fondness. Too much time was spent debating Foster’s merits or the capabilities of captain Sam Cane, for instance.
There became a sense that critics welcomed the team’s losses because it justified their negative appraisals.
We need a unifying force now and a coach who can enthuse a team and rouse a nation and produce results that we can all be proud of.
We need to feel a bit like Cantabrians do about Robertson and the Crusaders.
Comments on RugbyPass
*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
226 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
226 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.
16 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.
16 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 commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to comments