Most of Aotearoa will now be aware of who is coaching the All Blacks after this year's World Cup, but New Zealand Rugby have conceded there may be one important Kiwi who may not yet know - current coach Ian Foster.
Scott Robertson was named Foster's successor in Wellington at 4pm this afternoon, but Foster is currently in Europe where he, along with assistants Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan, have been scouting Six Nations fixtures.
It means it was 4am in France, where Foster currently is, when Robertson was confirmed.
NZR chief executive Mark Robinson was asked during the ensuing news conference if Foster had been informed of the news before it was made public, but he wasn't able to give a straight answer initially, saying they had been "in touch".
"I was travelling for a period and then he's gone travelling for a period but we spoke before I headed away and we've stayed in regular text contact there," Robinson said.
The issue was raised again soon after and Robinson reiterated they had simply "been in contact recently to have that chat".
When asked straight if Foster knew or not, NZR chair Dame Patsy Reddy intervened and seemingly confirmed the All Blacks coach had been treated the same as any other Kiwi.
"It depends if he's awake," she said.
When challenged whether that meant he would "wake up" to find out about his replacement, Robinson said he wasn't sure what time it is in Paris.
"He has been communicated with that this announcement was coming today," Robinson added.
Robinson reiterated that Foster still had "100% support" from NZR until his tenure ends as they had stated last year.
"We're doing everything we possibly can to make sure this team has all the support it can to be successful and we'll continue to do that," he said.
Robertson, sitting in between the two NZR officials, remained quiet throughout the line of questioning but when asked if he had spoken to Foster recently, he said they had been in contact.
"I've had a conversation with him in the last couple of weeks," Robertson said.
"We're really professional in that regard."
SHARE ME