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The All Blacks need to rekindle their emotional connection with fans
I’d like to see a rekindling of the emotional connection between the All Blacks and their fanbase.
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If there was a journey that Ian Foster was taking the team on during his tenure, it didn’t feel as if he took that many of us with them.
I thought the team was aloof, thin-skinned, and defensive. There was an air that they were better than us, without any justification for believing so.
Being an All Black or All Blacks coach doesn’t entitle you to deference from the rest of us. There’s no right to respect simply because you hold a position that revered characters occupied before you.
You have to earn that yourself and I’m not sure Foster ever did.
In that regard, he created a team in his own image.
If the Crusaders do one thing better than most teams and franchises, it’s play for their people.
As much as the Crusaders’ success irritates much of the rugby populace, it’s arguably their parochial supporters that stick in the craw most. The term “one-eyed’’ was just about invented for Cantabrians.
Winning stokes a bit of that, but it overlooks the lengths Canterbury and the Crusaders go to ensure their fans feel the team are absolutely representing them. That they matter and that the team would only be half as good without them.
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You can’t do siege mentality as a national team. It can’t be you against the rest of the world, you can’t have a disregard for everyone outside your exclusive group.
Scott Robertson will change that and he’ll need to, frankly.
Results might not be that flash in the first couple of years of his tenure. A number of seasoned campaigners won’t be available for selection and Robertson has to sell that to his new fanbase.
If we feel we’re part of the journey, then we’re more likely to forgive a hiccup or two.
I will give credit to Foster for one thing and that’s the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup performances.
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There will always be suspicions about the degree to which he was the architect of things, once Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan came on board, but the team did play reasonably well at the World Cup.
They had three matches of consequence, beating Ireland in one of them and losing to South Africa and France in the others. Given how badly they’ve played for much of the last four years, the All Blacks were actually pretty good in those games.
But there’s no doubt Foster has left the team in a poorer place than he found it.
Knockout
11 - 12
Final
6 - 44
SF1
15 - 16
SF2
17 - 29
QF1
24 - 28
QF2
30 - 24
QF3
28 - 29
QF4
That matters because of everything that’s sacrificed in the name of All Blacks success.
The team has to win – and be likeable doing it – to justify the dilution of every team and competition below them.
They didn’t do that often enough under Foster and there’s no point in anyone pretending otherwise.
This isn’t a coaching era I’ll remember with fondness. Too much time was spent debating Foster’s merits or the capabilities of captain Sam Cane, for instance.
There became a sense that critics welcomed the team’s losses because it justified their negative appraisals.
We need a unifying force now and a coach who can enthuse a team and rouse a nation and produce results that we can all be proud of.
We need to feel a bit like Cantabrians do about Robertson and the Crusaders.
This is so true. I don’t think it falls squarely on Foster on Cane’s shoulders though. It’s like a collective malaise from the public in reaction to collective inertia at NZR. True or not, it feels like the priority is the All Blacks brand, and not the fans or people of NZ.
As painful as the loss to SA was, watching their fans and their reactions to it was amazing. The love people have for their team, and vice versa is not something I see in NZ. Fans and the media are openly hostile to the ABs, and at time over the past 4 years it has been mutual. I got the sense that the win meant so much more to the people of SA than it would have done to NZ.
I think the team has done everything they can to play for NZ, but there is definitely a connection missing. When Sam Cane talks about playing for the fans, there is no passion, even if he does mean it. It comes across like a talking point from the PR manager. You don’t see All Blacks players punching their chest and yelling “this is for New Zealand” the way we saw from Mbonambi.
Somehow NZR and the ABs need to rediscover that passion and connection with the fans.
Fozzy and his boys worked hard and stood up to win back respect. I acknowledge him and the lads for that! That matters as a fan. Best wishes going forward mate!
Well summed up. We fans have been utterly trashed over a long time by the NZRU with its devaluing of the NPC and SR to meet the perceived needs of rhe ABs and WorldRugby with its mindless laws and over officiating.
Agreed
I have huge respect for the All Blacks. Maybe the AB supporters can shed some light on this. From afar it seems as if there is a definite correlation between the amount of support for the AB'S in NZ, depending on their success on the field. Is this true? If so why?
Is it because of competition from Rugby League?
In SA we do not have Rugby League. If so, then on a very small basis.
Here there is absolute support for the Boks… Win or lose. Disappointed in losses, yes. But always support.
To me the AB'S is a magnificent team and brand. Has the AB supporters become spoilt with their huge success over the years? Maybe they do not know the feeling of losing?
The AB's may have not won the WC, but they still did magnificently well.
NZ should be proud of them.
Agree Hamish. Foster and his team expected unquestioned loyalty regardless of performance. Cane summed it up when he described AB fans as “thinking they know about rugby, but not actually knowing” - an insular, self-entitled comment if ever there was one. Although Cane and Foster exceeded expectations at the RWC, it was only because they had set the bar so low in prior performances. They are a credit to themselves but AB expectations are excellence, innovation and humility. Foster kept implying he had knowledge others lacked but his team’s overall performance was sub-par and did not rise to meet the challenges of other nations during his tenure. Mostly, this was due to out-dated and already figured out game plans without resilience or innovation. This is the great hope for Robertson - that he can innovate and meet challenges while building a team environment that his players love.
One photograph said it all for me. At the time of the sackings, an instagram pic of Ardie Savea hugging a sad faced teddy bear looking Foster with the caption “my coach” was vomit inducing. And shows just how bunkered, inward looking, & systemically skewed the team was.
Add in the narrative that the senior players were ready to walk out if Foster was sacked & an even bleaker picture is painted. But this is all hearsay as far as I know. Was there an official comment from Mark Robinson on this “walking out” ultimatum? Tail. Wag. Dog.
All in all, yes, a deep hearts & minds gulf between Team Foster & the outside-looking-in ABs’ fan base.
Can't agree. There are a lot of reasons why the Crusaders fans are like they are and most of them have nothing to do with rugby. Winning on a regular basis has made their supporters experts in all facets of the game.
Rugby has gone tribal in NZ. You’re dreaming if you expect everyone to get behind Robertson after the treatment dished out to Foster.