All Blacks coach Ian Foster believes the adversity his management team and wider playing squad has gone through over the last 12 months will fuel the fire necessary to win the upcoming World Cup in France.
Today marks the 100-day countdown until the opening game of the tournament – a blockbuster between France and the All Blacks at the Stade de France in Paris.
In an interview with 1News’ Andrew Saville to mark the occasion, Foster reflected on how difficult it is to win a World Cup away from home but suggested the turbulent last year may have provided an important piece of the puzzle.
Asked whether he was confident of success, Foster replied, “very”, adding: “We’ve seen some massive growth in some players over the last 12 months. The adversity we’ve gone through – you choose how you want to use that, and I think that’s hardened us up.”
Last year the All Blacks lost the home series to Ireland and while they won the Rugby Championship, they lost to Argentina at home for the first time and their lacklustre performance against South Africa in Mbombela put an enormous amount of scrutiny on Foster and his assistants.
While they ultimately gained a vote of confidence from the New Zealand Rugby board, it was decided last year that the new All Blacks head coach from 2024 onwards would be announced this year before the World Cup and in March Scott Robertson was named as Foster's successor.
In the interview with Saville, Foster, who will name a squad of 36 for the Rugby Championship in late June and a squad of 33 for the World Cup, said he was happy with his preparations and where his top players were at.
“I think the group’s in a great spot. We’re a very focused group going into a World Cup. We’re not being talked about the same way as other teams are. I don’t really care about that because I believe that once we touch the ground in France people are going to know that we’re in town and they’ll see us as a major threat.
“We’ve only won one away from home and we know how tough it is. Being there in 2015 [as an assistant to Sir Steve Hansen], it’s very special when you have to perform away from home, but it requires a real steel and determination and maybe the last 12 months has been good for us in that space.”
Foster said it would be important to make every day and game count before the World Cup.
The All Blacks begin their Rugby Championship campaign against Argentina in Mendoza on July 8.
He said the All Blacks would hold a short camp for those not involved in the Super Rugby final, scheduled for June 24, with the rest of the squad joining on the Tuesday after the final.
“In 2019 we gave a lot of leeway to the finals teams to have a break after Super Rugby and didn’t play them against Argentina and brought them in late to the South Africa Test [a draw in Wellington] and suffered with cohesion in those first couple of Tests," he said. "This year we need to hit the ground running.
“We have five Tests before the World Cup and they’re all big Tests… we play Argentina in Mendoza and South Africa here [at Mt Smart Stadium] – we haven’t played them here for a long time. They could be a potential quarter-finalist for us and we don’t want to waste that opportunity.”
The All Blacks also play the Wallabies home and away and the Springboks at Twickenham in a one-off World Cup warm-up.
There are a variety of players with injury issues, most notably at the Crusaders who have lost props Fletcher Newell, Joe Moody and George Bower, along with wing Sevu Reece and potentially midfielder David Havili for the rest of the season but most, apart from Bower and Reece (knee injuries), should be available for France.
“We’re excited about where we are, and what I love about this World Cup is game one; it’s France, it’s the Stade de France, big game, high expectations on them and high expectations on us," Foster said.
“We want to play a fast game, a physical game that we know we’re good at. We want to get that nice blend of a kicking game and ball-in-hand game and go into a World Cup with a massive degree of confidence. Us getting the next 100 days right is critical to what happens after that.”
Tune into 1News at 6pm to watch Andrew Saville's interview with Ian Foster.
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