1
Cane to be sacked but Foster will keep job claim reports
By Chris Jones
Sam Cane could be dumped as All Blacks captain but head coach Ian Foster is expected survive with former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt given a greater input into the running of the team according to media reports in New Zealand.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Otago Daily Times is claiming that Cane could be replaced as captain for the Rugby Championship opening two games with South Africa by veteran lock Sam Whitelock following the test series loss to Ireland.
Schmidt, currently an All Blacks selector, is believed to be taking more of a director of rugby role in response to the two defeats by an Ireland side he helped create.
New Zealand Rugby was expected to announce a Rugby Championship squad yesterday, but that was delayed by the review into the team’s recent poor performances.
In six years under New Zealand-born Schmidt, Ireland won three Six Nations Championships, including the Grand Slam in 2018. Ireland were ranked number 1 in the World for the first time in their history in 2019 – a position they have recaptured after the series triumph over the All Blacks.
According to the New Zealand Herald sacking Foster and his fellow coaches would be a costly exercise in excess of NZ$2 million in pay-outs. The third test defeat by Ireland in Wellington was the All Blacks’ fourth loss from the past five tests and their first home series defeat in 27 years.
Despite the public backlash over the All Blacks’ poor form, a mass clear-out of the coaches a year ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France was deemed to be to destabilising for a squad that must now take on the Springboks, the current Rugby World Cup holders, who have just beaten Wales in a three-match series.
ADVERTISEMENT
Schmidt left his role as World Rugby’s director of rugby to spend more time with his family in New Zealand having been appointed in 2020 after leaving the Ireland job.
Coaching matters, just look at the turnarounds in world cup years Dame Noeline Taurua & [SIR] Wayne Smith achieved. Get rid of Foster & Cane, get Razor in NOW with Whitelock as Skipper.
The New Zealand Rugby Union has always been full of old men with bad breath and dandruff. They have a propensity to cover up any controversy that may hurt the Rugby Union. So really a dud coach and an ineffective Captain/Player is water off the "ducks back" for these guys. Least we forget their Chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union Jock Hobbs, a great man, unless you were an investor in Strategic Finance. Shareholders believed in Jock. Read the story of Strategic Finance. Its really interesting. Back today, well nothing much has changed. New Zealanders are the most discerning Rugby Public in the World. Best Current coach in New Zealand, Razor Robertson. Joe Schmidt has the overall best credentials. I don't think he wants a coaching role. Leon was simply "out thought when Auckland played Canterbury by Razor. For me Razor and Tony Brown are in a League of their own. Jamie Joseph probably enjoys his life and the money in Japan and wouldn't get involved with old men with bad breath and dandruff. We have been short of International Props since before the last World Cup, when Australia beat us in Perth. Aussie props made 17 runs All Blacks made 3. We beat Ireland and the used the same tatics against England ..... Dhuuuur. They murdered us.....Wayne Smith has forgotton more about rugby, than any of the above mentioned coaches. An intelligent and very humble man. The best coach in New Zealand for the last 30 years. Remember The New Zealand Rugby Union chose that halfwit Mitchell and Deans over Wayne Smith. They haven't improved.
South Africa V New Zealand ? Have to see the teams. Captain has to be Ardie Savea, the only forward with 'Balls"
For God sake put Scott Robinson as coach,at least he knows how to win games,Ian Foster is just a wannabe coach that doesn't know shit
By holding onto Foster the rot will just keep on festering! The All Blacks are already in disarray and by not changing the coach will just weaken ,not only the AB culture, but the whole AB fanbase!
The problem is Plumtree and Foster...less Sam Cane. If you select a blinside like Akira for a gritty game, it tells alot about what Foster is coaching. Northern hemisphere has improved breakdown management so much that Australia and Newzealand are having hard time adjusting in games.
Not sure what you lot are whining at, you try being Scottish.
NZRU need to figure out how bad we're the All Black's & how good we're Ireland. It would be arrogant for them to think a team cant get better than you. Having watched the other Summer Series games with Australia, England, South Africa & Wales I think NZ would still beat all of them if they played next week.
I never thought Cane should be Captain & Ardie Savea would be my pick for the armband. He is everything the team are trying to achieve
Replace an underperforming captain with someone who is already past his best! WOW. The All Blacks need a captain who is on top of his game and who commands his spot in the team and not someone who is past his best. Whitelock should be one of the first dropped from the squad.
So from what I hear Fozzie is prepared to sack his own choice of captain to save his own job! UNREAL!!! He should never have offered him up as captain in the first place then!
It is difficult to see how Foster can keep going, when his record places both himself and the team under a cloud of negativity. Sure, Cane has to be dropped if his form isn’t good enough and there are better available players in his position (which there are!). However, it seems like he is being scapegoated, while the coach gets off scott free. Similarly, it just feels like Joe Schmidt is being used as a buffer to criticism of Foster, rather than being a new broom.
Beyond this, while the nominal squad changes look to be correct ones, I’m not sure they go far enough. We need more of the new wave of impressive young front rowers that are emerging (like Fletcher Newall and Tamaiti Williams as well as Ethan de Groot) to replace the old guard. We need to make better run on team selections in the loose forwards and the backs too.
In all of this, I simply have no faith that Foster can make the radical surgery necessary and be quick witted enough to adapt to new challenges as they emerge.