New Zealand Rugby are currently talking to candidates for the All Blacks’ head coaching role for 2024 and beyond, meaning Ian Foster may go to the World Cup in France next September knowing it will be his last tournament as coach of the national team.
Mark Robinson, NZ Rugby’s chief executive, confirmed the departure on recent policy this morning alongside new board chairwoman Dame Patsy Reddy, who is replacing incumbent Stewart Mitchell.
It comes as speculation continues to swirl about the future of perennial Super Rugby winner Scott Robertson in the wake of the sackings of Wales coach Wayne Pivac and England coach Eddie Jones.
The dearth of quality candidates to succeed Sir Steve Hansen in 2019, and the current volatility among Test rugby coaches, suggests this is a worthwhile U-turn by NZR, who waited until after the last World Cup to appoint Foster.
By then the other interested parties, including Jamie Joseph, Tony Brown and Dave Rennie, had found international roles and Robertson was the only other option.
It comes, too, after Warren Gatland, who will replace Pivac, delivered a stinging rebuke to NZR on his way out the door earlier this week, saying “things have changed in world rugby”, and that the appointment process “should be starting now".
“You can’t wait until after the World Cup and think that people will come knocking at your door because that doesn’t happen in professional sport,” Gatland said.
Robinson and the NZR board evidently agree.
According to Robinson, the next coaching appointment process, after Foster only just survived the sack this year following a horror run, was a hot topic at yesterday’s board meeting, along with the organisation’s finances – they are budgeting for a financial loss for the current year – and next year’s World Cup.
“That is part of the deliberation we’re going through,” Robinson said when asked whether an appointment will be confirmed before next September’s World Cup kick-off.
The bottom line is that it will indeed happen, and that “discussions” are ongoing with New Zealand’s “talent”, including presumably Foster, Robertson and possibly Japan coaches Joseph and Brown (both are leaving Japan after the World Cup).
“We keep a very close eye on what’s happening internationally,” Robinson added. “We feel a lot of sympathy with what’s happened in England and Wales to really good people – at executive, administrative and at coaching level but at the same time for us we have to be aware of what that means for our talent as well.”
Asked what he made of Gatland’s comments, including that Robertson was the only viable option to succeed Foster if a change was made, Robinson replied: “He’s one of 5 million people that’s got an opinion on this hasn’t he? We get lots of good advice in this area. Certainly, as an executive and a board we had a good discussion yesterday.”
Dame Patsy, who began by saying it was a “momentous time” for the organisation and that “I don’t underestimate the challenge”, added of the highly contentious All Blacks coaching situation: “We’re very focused on supporting our team through to the Rugby World Cup but we’ve got to look at our future and believe me we’re on it.”
The urgency attached to the project differs hugely from the last succession plan, if it can be called that, when, on the recommendation of former chairman Brent Impey, NZ Rugby sat on its hands despite having advance notice that Hansen had decided to step down.
Asked how Foster has reacted to the news that he may be told before the World Cup that he won’t have a job after it, Robinson said: “We’re not going to comment on those discussions. Good, regular conversations will be ongoing.”
That applies to other areas, too.
Dame Patsy, the former Governor General of New Zealand who will officially take over from Mitchell in February, said a priority of hers was to improve the wellbeing of players – she is a patron of the University of Auckland Centre for Brain Research – and take advantage of the recent World Cup and the Black Ferns’ performance during it.
“We’ve got to capitalise on the wonderful base the Rugby World Cup has given us to grow the game to a whole new fan base,” she said.
“It’s a part of the game that’s been underdeveloped… I want it to be seen more as a family entertainment option for fans.”
Robinson said the other major priorities were the growing of Super Rugby Aupiki, the possibility of the WXV, a proposed international women’s competition, being played in New Zealand, and a potential tour of the British and Irish Lions women’s team.
The financial loss, he said, should be seen in the context of Covid, which forced New Zealand’s Super Rugby teams to operate in a bubble in Queenstown at the start of the year.
“It is a position that we’re comfortable with as an organisation.”
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