All Blacks fans should do the right thing and admit fault

It’s annoying as a (non Kiwi) ABs fan to be lumped in with all the keyboard warriors from Canterbury. Even today I’m seeing people saying that Blackadder should start and Will Jordan is out of position. And basically pre-emptively throwing Foster under a bus for selections that will “lose us the game”.

Joe Schmidht is written all over the NZ improvement.
NZ like England also benefitted from luck. NZ were easily outclassed by the better Team France. Should SA have beaten Ireland then NZ were exiting in the quarter.

What a ridiculous notion by this writer. And of course, all the ugly stuff comes out from the folks on the net about All Black conduct. Death, taxes and rugby pundits throwing stones out the windows of their glass houses. Foster has a record, and that record in relative terms is very very poor. The AB’s win rate under Fozzies is almost as poor as South Africa’s win rate, which is unacceptable for the winningest team in sports history. You wouldn't praise a doctor who botched up a number of surgery’s just because he turns around and pulls off a heart transplant. The guy would be got rid of. The black jersey has a legacy, and that legacy has been tarnished by a number of very poor, un-All Black type results which means he deserves criticism. It's not that black or white Mr Morton.

And a few weeks ago, when the ABs were losing, journalists were painting a different picture of Foster’s journey, weren’t they?

I wish people would stop flipping everytime a result comes or goes. The ABs haven’t even won anything yet - will everybody flip again if the ABs lose this weekend?

Personally, I am getting tired of people writing scripts for outcomes of matches that haven’t happened already. Let us see what the result is first, then people can write stories about it later.

Another metric must be how the coach has sustained NZ supposed ethos of integrity, respecting other teams, fellow competitors and supporters and rugby’s ethos.
The wobbles of the last few years have resulted in a diminishing of International respect for NZ not because of you losing some matches but perhaps around your conduct since that time and your conduct in losing. Demonizing an opponent is not a good losing gambit. The sneering at retiring Irish rugby players and mocking of the Irish crowd after the final whistle are symtoms of that demonization. We know how to lose in the NH and sic nations. And we talk to each other. The image you have of the All Blacks, exists primarily only in NZ now. That will be a legacy of Foster. Straight question.
Are you ok with this?

If he wins the World Cup, then I’ll eat my words and admit my wrongs.

Until then, he hasn’t achieved anything. The series loss to Ireland is still unforgivable.

New Zealand fans would never give credit where it’s due unless Fozzie brings home the World Cup. A large majority of keyboard coaches feel this way, I am proud to say I backed the boys from the beginning. To blame Foz for the losses against Ireland basically dismisses the efforts of Ireland and Argentina. They like to mention Ryan and Schmidt as the true masterminds behind the success, no doubt they’ve helped, but what happened when we got run off the park against the Boks and lost to France first time ever in a pool match? Oh that’s right it was all Fozzy😒just so childish. I’m backing them all the way.

Fozzie did what all good managers do - surround himself with the best people.

If he had Ryan and Joe Schmidt from the start then Ireland wouldn’t have won in Nz and Argentina would still be waiting for their first victory against the ABs.

However, even Fozzie himself knows what he was dishing up was unacceptable before the win at joburg.

If he wins the RWC he should be rightly praised for a remarkable turnaround and finally getting the right people in place to dramatically improve the quality of coaching and modernise how the ABs play the game.

A fair summation. I am very proud of the efforts that Fozzie and the team hasve put in to dig themselves out of a large hole. After the 2019 semifinal loss we had to change as a team and shore up our forward play. It has taken us 4 years to identify those players and give them the skill sets required and game plans to take us back to the top and hopefully keep us there. Win or lose this weekend I am very proud and respectful of Fozzie and his team. The great redemption story that I hope has a fairy tale ending.

Cheers Finn.
It’s been a massive 4 years from a fans perspective, at the end of the day, everyone has different things they see of value, some build to the RWC, just want to win that, others see undefeated in all tests, or winning all the championships available. Foster after 4 years has won all cups but the RWC (which could happened).
In July 22 when he was told his assistants weren’t getting the team to where they needed to be was a huge moment, he could have gone with them but choose to stay, head coaches have always been allowed to alter there assistants, at the end of the day he took a gamble on them at end of 2021 and they didn’t come through in the Irish series.

He’s turned it around with Ryan and Schmidt, it shows to me that Plumtree and Moar have been more of an issue then Fozzie, which you don’t know until given a shot and it didn’t work out.

I hope they win on Sunday and he and the whole group can go out on a high.