Ian Foster has added more fuel to the debate over who will take over as All Blacks head coach from next year with an extraordinary series of interviews in which he said he believes there is a “mood for change” at New Zealand Rugby and that he probably wouldn't be in the role after the World Cup.
Talking to 1News the day before New Zealand Rugby are scheduled to hold a board meeting in which his role will almost certainly come up for conversation, Foster admitted he was rocking the boat by speaking out and, significantly, said he probably wouldn’t apply for his current role until after the World Cup which starts in September.
Regardless, after "reading the tea leaves", he said he probably wasn't in the running anyway.
Foster’s main complaint is the “distraction” the debate is causing his players and staff ahead of the tournament in France.
Asked in a radio interview with Newstalk ZB whether he was frustrated after a drawn out and shambolic process which began when he and Scott Robertson were the only candidates to succeed Sir Steve Hansen, and continued during a troubled past few years during which two of his assistants were sacked, a fate Foster himself avoided thanks to his side beating South Africa in Johannesburg, he said: “I think so.”
“I’ve sat back for the last few months and listened to the conversations bouncing around in the public domain about this role and job and when’s the right time to do something.
The decision over who will coach the All Blacks after this year's Rugby World Cup has taken another twist. (Source: 1News)
“There’s a couple of things that probably did it for me – one was John Kirwan’s article [recently] where he said ‘Ian should just get up and say this and this and this’. And I kind of agreed with him so I spoke to him and just felt the New Zealand rugby public deserved to know what I thought of it.
“And I also believe that this is becoming more of a debate about who is going to apply than what is the right thing for the team. For me, I know people are going to make decisions, I respect that, but I believe I owed it to our team to say what I felt was the right thing for the All Blacks in a World Cup year.”
Asked by 1News' Andrew Saville today about whether he could see himself coaching the All Blacks next year, Foster said: "It's not my choice and and, again, this whole debate has been about 'who'? Who's the next coach... and that's my point for speaking out, I want to talk about what we can do to be prepared for this World Cup and the 'who' comes afterwards."
NZR boss Mark Robinson confirmed before Christmas that his organisation would change policy by making a decision on the next All Blacks coach before the World Cup.
Foster has also clearly been annoyed by the recent comments by rival Robertson who suggested New Zealand Rugby were on the brink of an announcement.
Robertson, in his final year as Crusaders coach, was notably upbeat when updating the media at his franchise's headquarters.
"Oh there's no doubt there's pressure on NZR and it's tough for the board cause there'll be people putting their cases infront of them," he told 1News.
"I want to put the teams case in front of them."
Foster, who last year received a contract extension until the end of 2023 despite a series of inconsistent results which included first home defeats to Ireland and Argentina, said he didn’t speak on behalf of his players.
"Look boards and CEOs have big jobs, they've got to make big decisons, I get that," he said.
"We'll live with whatever the decision is and move forward. And the one thing we can't ever afford to do is have an excuse going into a World Cup and we won't have that but we're clearlty at a point I didnt think what was being heard was the view of the current AB group, the 20 management, of where we feel this team is in order to get it ready for the World Cup.
"We know we have to earn he public's respect going in to the World Cup and we want to do that and are working hard, but right now having this conversation is taking a lot of energy out of everyone and after this there'll be other things that take energy as people figure out which regime they'll be in and what that means for their future and I'd rather those conversations were after a World Cup."
Foster, asked if he could lead the All Blacks to a World Cup win if he missed out on the job, said: “Absolutely I can. I’ll give everyone a 100 per cent commitment on that. It’s not like there’s going to be bucket-loads of excuses afterwards, but I also don’t believe, in my own words, of putting unnecessary distractions on our shoulders.”
Asked by Saville whether he deserved to be retained after last year's results, he replied: "Well I've been backed by the board last August to take this team to the World Cup. We went through a lot of turmoil last year, that's well documented."
SHARE ME