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NZR make final decision to back Ian Foster

(Photo by Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images)

Under fire All Blacks coach Ian Foster has received the support of New Zealand Rugby and will be retained after saving his job following the win over the Springboks in Johannesburg.

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New Zealand Rugby chairman Stewart Mitchell announced this afternoon that Foster had passed his third review in the space of the last 12 months and would be in charge through to the Rugby World Cup.

The board chair affirmed the Union has ‘absolute confidence’ in Foster and the coaching staff’s ability to take the team to France in 2023.

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“Yesterday, Mark and Chris Lendrum met with Ian to finalise conversations around where things sat after the first five tests of the year,” Mitchell said.

“Ian has provided management with his own recommendations, and these have in turn been recommended to the board who have unanimously agreed they have absolute confidence that Ian and this coaching group are the right people to lead the All Blacks through to the World Cup.

“This has been privately and publicly validated by our players and in various conversations with our high performance team.

“I want to absolutely emphasise going forward that both Ian as head coach and Mark as chief executive have the board’s absolute backing and support.”

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There will be one change to the coaching staff with former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt stepping into the vacant assistant coaching role left by Brad Mooar.

Schmidt had originally joined New Zealand Rugby as a selector but has seen the scope of his role expand dramatically in his first couple of months with the organisation.

He joins the official coaching staff alongside new forwards coach Jason Ryan, defence coach Scott McLeod and scrum coach Greg Feek.

Foster spoke to the media at the announcement about the ‘performance stress’ the team was under but accepted that getting ‘grilled’ was part and parcel of being the All Blacks coach.

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“Clearly it’s been a difficult time. At the start of this campaign, we didn’t get what we wanted against Ireland and that created a lot of performance stress,” Foster said.

“That’s part of my job, and I expect to be grilled in that space. And so through the last month I’ve had a number of conversations about how we can grow our organisation and make sure that we get the performance that we want on the park.”

 

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2 Comments
W
Willie 821 days ago

What does Feek do again?

L
Lewis 821 days ago

2 wins from the last 7 games... wow, i sure aren't confident we will see the Webb Ellis on our shelf at the end of next year.

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Hellhound 38 minutes ago
Scotland's Gregor Townsend confirms Tom Jordan Glasgow exit

NZ lost a great player there. Played brilliantly for Glasgow and against SA was the best player on the pitch. Caused the Boks some headaches. Slot him into the current AB's team, and they would be very dangerous, especially broken play.


However, the Scots isn't stupid and their recruiting from the SH countries is starting to pay off. They don't have the player pool the SH countries have, nor that of their neighbours even.


I applaud them for being so open-minded as giving those players who have loyally played their rugby in Scotland for years a chance. SA for one have such a vast pool of players that's so talented and could be world class given the smallest chance, but will never get a look in because there is just so many stars in the country.


I don't mind that Saffas play for other countries to further their own careers. Besides, it makes Scotland better and makes for one more team to step up to the big stage and make rugby more exciting than just the top 4 that usually wins.


Scotland may have lost by 17 against a rusty Bok "B" team, but that score is not a true indication of that match. The Scottish biggest mistakes was kicking at goal the entire time, instead of going for the jugular. If they tried to go for tries, they may have been stopped and the score might have been bigger, but the game was on such a knife edge, that if they did go for it, they might have scored a couple of tries or more and we very well might have seen a Scottish upset.


It was by no means a bad effort at all. Tom Jordan is one of their best new talents coming through. He should've stayed with Glasgow. What a loss for the URC Champs. Going to Loftus and getting one over the Bulls is something that not even the so called best team in club rugby could do. Leinster keeps losing at Loftus. For Glasgow to do that in a Final was phenomenal and Tom Jordan was no small part of that feat.


Rugby is truely becoming a global sport now, where the eligibility rules is making rugby a much smaller world, but a much bigger global game. The Scots is most likely the team with the most aliens in their team. They welcome players with open arms. I applaud that. They are a sleeping giant, and if they continue playing like they did against the Boks, despite the results, they will become a real threat for 2027.


I admired how they played. They impressed everyone. I say good on them. Results will come if they continue on their upward trajectory. I wish them and Tom Jordan all the luck they deserve.

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