'He gave me a discount': Warm Foster welcome in Razor heartland

All Blacks boss Ian Foster has reported that he has been warmly received in Christchurch ahead of this Saturday’s Rugby Championship match versus Argentina. Local rugby fans would have been hopeful that Scott Robertson, the repeat Super Rugby title-winning coach at the Crusaders, would have got Foster’s job following the national team’s shaky start to the 2022 season.

The All Blacks lost three of their first four matches, a run of results that added to the gloom surrounding the end-of-year losses to Ireland and France in November 2021. That left Foster with a record of just one win in six matches and it was felt he would lose his job if the All Blacks finished their two-game series in South Africa winless.

However, he somehow guided his team to a job-saving 35-23 Ellis Park win over the Springboks in their round two Rugby Championship match and the NZR last week green-lighted Foster remaining in charge of the All Blacks until the 2023 World Cup finals in France.

That decision would have disappointed Crusaders boss Roberston, who hasn’t been shy about his Test-level ambitions, recently telling The Big Jim Show that he wants to win two World Cups, one with the All Blacks and another with an overseas team.

That ambition came with the warning that he is tempted to soon seek out employment abroad but the threat didn’t sufficiently convince the NZR into making a change. This decision would surely have annoyed Christchurch-based supporters who want to see Robertson in charge of the All Blacks but Foster hasn’t felt any negativity in this city this week while preparing his team to face the Pumas.

Foster hasn’t shied away from embracing the locals, revealing at his team announcement media briefing that he used his midweek down day to venture out into Christchurch while also going for lunch at a spot overlooking Lyttelton Harbour.

“Pretty good,” replied Foster when asked about the reception he has had so far during his Christchurch stay. “I had a seafood chowder at the Governors Bay pub yesterday [Wednesday], and they were very excited to see me.

“And then I bought three second-hand vinyls at Penny Lane on Colombo Street and he [the owner] said I was the first All Blacks coach to visit. So I am two out of two. It is great being here.

“It cost me 30 bucks, he gave me a discount,” added Foster, whose purchases were a 1970s compilation of New Zealand hits and two albums by Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn.