Allister Coetzee used 70 per cent of Rassie Erasmus’ victorious Rugby World Cup ’19 troops during the most dismal ever period in Springbok rugby history and Ian Foster is now now following in his footsteps by turning the once-revered All Black rugby machine into a squad of All Blanks.
In my living memory I’ve never seen such a bewildered and flustered squad of AB players as I did during the last 20 minutes of the Test against the Argentinians.
Replacing iconic, influential players like Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Sonny Bill Williams and Kieran Read was always going to be a monumental task but the Kiwis had an existing framework with the talent and coaches to have bridged this gap with a modicum of success if clever, clear thinking and logical reasoning where applied.
The normally visionary and astute New Zealand rugby brainstrust in its latest incarnation has however failed miserably in this regard and under the substantial cover provided by the excellent AB regimes of Graham Henry and Steve Hansen, they may have started believing in the legend of their own press a bit too much. There was proof in the condescending, self-righteous attitude towards all the role players in the recent Super Rugby implosion during the COVID reshuffle.
This was while extremely capable coaches like Warren Gatland, Dave Rennie and the red-hot man of the moment, Scotty Robertson, were around at the time and champing at the bit to take New Zealand rugby to new heights.
Allister Coetzee shone while basking in the light reflected by then Bok coach Jake White during his victorious Rugby World Cup ’07 campaign and at the Stormers under Rassie Erasmus. In 2007 the Boks’ backline pre-WC was pretty sterile (Coetzee’s bailiwick) and White had to rope in everybody’s favourite little Aussie, Eddie Jones, to unlock the talents of Frans Steyn and sharpen up Fourie du Preez and Butch James to unleash Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen out wide.
This reflected glory landed him the coveted Stormers job, which he failed at miserably until Erasmus arrived for a rebuilding season before his talents was roped into the national set-up. Allister then ploughed with Erasmus’ cattle for two seasons to reach the playoffs and a final where he spectacularly dropped the ball on both occasions.
In short, he never won anything or any trophy of consequence as a head coach, a feat about to be duplicated with Ian Foster and his below-par career to date. His only saving grace initially has been the Boks’ absence and a young rebuilding Wallaby Bledisloe squad under the above mentioned Dave Rennie, who was very astutely poached by Aussie rugby.
Ian Foster coached the Chiefs for nine years and during his tenure they were the bottom New Zealand franchise dwellers, ending mostly below mid table. He did reach the semis in 2004 only to be destroyed by the George Gregan/Stephen Larkham/Stirling Mortlock triumvirate and he finally got his troops to the final in 2009 just to lose by a still-record margin of 61-17 against the Bulls’ magic of Fourie du Preez and the Bakkies Botha/Victor Matfield show.
As Hanson’s assistant between 2012 and 2019, his artificial ascent to the top tier started with the reflected glory from the glorious Steve Hansen show, much like Allister Coetzee’s rise…and eventual spectacular fall.
(Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
To be a successful rugby coach on the international circuit you needs to be a charismatic and magnetic character with a strong personality and a large slice of mongrel thrown in, something Erasmus, Hanson and Robertson have oodles of and Foster simply has none of.
The biggest single challenge for a rugby coach is to see and unlock all the potential synergies between his chosen players on the field of battle so the collective can become greater than the sum of its parts to ultimately achieve greatness. The historic WC-winning honor-roll of coaches – namely Kitsch Christie, Rod McQueen, Ian Woodward, Jake White, Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Rassie Erasmus – epitomise the above traits and abilities but sadly Ian Foster like Allister Coetzee before him falls woefully short on all counts.
I believe the current New Zealand trio of Scotty Robertson, Warren Gatland or Dave Rennie all have these traits to join this particular honor-roll, or at least have a much better shot at it. Or don’t they?
Springbok rugby celebrated Foster’s appointment. It’s going to make developing our squad of young guns so much easier than if Scotty Robertson was calling the shots in our old enemies’ camp, as Dave Rennie has already proven with his new, exciting blend of youth and experience being groomed for future greatness.
Keep it up and carry on Ian Foster, we’re not complaining at all.
The masked soup-bone
Roar Rookie
Typical copper and as blunt and to-the-man as they come; but first onto the field to personally congratulate the top players of the opposition on the rare occasions his troops fluffed their lines and never offering ANY excuse for a below par performance. The most eye-opening trait was seeing him; sleeves rolled up; inside the team trailer passing on the team luggage upon a late arrival in SA. A no-nonsense bloke; straight to the face with the steel in his backbone that made his troops go to war for him; a giant of a man.
Mark
Guest
Nah - hes not that good
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Yep was in Durban at Kings Park, for the match won by the AB’s 57-15, flew over just for the one match :happy:
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
Happy days. Did you no go to the Republic during that period?
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
I did :silly:
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Yes I did :happy:
Emery Ambrose
Roar Rookie
He’s actually in a better situation then Henry or Hansen because he is losing at the start of his tenure not after 4 years or 8 years. He can find the way to correct this and he and the team can come out better & stronger. He has a very young and inexperienced team to build over the next 3 years, this will help them not hinder them.
therealnews
Roar Rookie
What a non-sense the pumas just made of SAs decision not to come for reasons of 'player welfare'.
Android-angler Cartman-brah
Roar Rookie
They play like Samoa. 7s rugby style with no structure. That happens when more than 50% in the squad is of island origins. Look at Crusaders and past ABs teams. The balance was better and they played with more structure. Rugby is war players bleed for their country. Will islanders bleed for NZ their adopted nation with roots elsewhere? I don't think so.
Android-angler Cartman-brah
Roar Rookie
I get the feeling these ABs blokes nowadays likes mirrors, hair dressers and tatoe parlours too much. They gone soft. Mcaw et al had lots of mongrel.
Mel R
Roar Rookie
In defence of Fozzie even though I’m a staunch Wallabies fan I believe he must back himself and rest everyone if he feels freshness is an issue. Send in another ABs team! They’ve got the cattle. Its time to blood more ABs..
Wayne
Roar Rookie
Masked soup-bone: I am going to have to disagree with you on this. Please friend, give this one to the Pumas. They earned it. The Pumas applied pressure and the AB's folded. Foster could stand on his head, you could bring back Hansen, Henry and McCaw but nothing can change what happened. Momentum also had nothing to do with the Pumas performance, they were up for this one on a whole new level. They went into the match with knowledge under their belt from the WC, were playing for their people back home suffering terribly from the pandemic, they have just been terminated from Super Rugby by New Zealand, everybody firmly believed the AB's would just pitch up and win, the world was against them. How much more motivation did they need? I maintain that you should not blame Foster for this loss. Yes, he has some work to do but from my perspective he inherited this team with historical issues that he needs to correct.
Brian Westlake
Roar Rookie
“To be a successful rugby coach on the international circuit you needs to be a charismatic and magnetic character” You’ve never met shags have you? Typical nz copper all the way. I have Tupperware with more charisma than hansen
Rob9
Roar Guru
With the exception of Kaino and a more hot and cold Read, I don't think they were 'running out of steam'. Crotty really only got his chance post 2015 when Smith and Nonu stepped aside. They were the World Rugby team of the year in 2016 and 2017. 12 from 12 Rugby Championship starts is pretty tight including a 57-zip thrashing of the Boks in 2017. It was certainly a good thing that those huge players of the past weren't there, but I know as a Wallaby fan- my fear of the AB's hadn't started to slip yet.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
I remember struggling against Wales in 2016 until they ran out of steam in the final quarter, as well the loss to Ireland. I reckon those players you mentioned were also running out of steam post 2015, I’ll add Whitelock to that too.
Rob9
Roar Guru
I seem to remember a bounce in the immediate aftermath of McCaw, Carter, Nonu, Smith (Conrad) etc moving on. It was a dagger because I think the rest of us thought we’d finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel of this decade of AB dominance but suddenly it appeared further out of reach. I guess there are some pretty special players that stayed on but have since departed such as Smith (Ben), Crotty, Read, Kaino and Franks. They went undefeated for consecutive Rugby Championships in 16’ and 17’. May be some cracks started to appear in the drawn Lions series and I think it became apparent that it’s no longer the same AB’s in the 2018 home loss to the Boks and their 2nd loss to Ireland in the November tests that same year.
AR
Roar Rookie
Who exactly is “NZRU”? What are these people’s names? Do they ever give press conferences?
AR
Roar Rookie
Dagg, mature?? What a joke. The only “mature” aspect of Dagg’s life is his hair plugs.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
Agree with a lot of what you say Rob and no different here. As Geoff has said in his artcle the All Blacks are in transition and no longer the vaunted 2015 edition. The World Cup saw the exodus of some of the finest players of our era. Argenetina were brilliant as far as I am concerned but the lack of response remains concerning and talks to preparation and leadership.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
I wouldn't say two or three years ago Rob, I'd say five years ago. To agree with your point, the likes of McCaw, Carter, Kaino, Read, Nonu and Smith were all possibly the best ever in those positions and McCaw possibly the best captain ever. They've been replaced by very good test players and Cane will become a very good test captain, but not surprisingly they are a class below. Also Coles, Brodie and Whitelock were at their peak then - I think only Brodie will be starting in 2023. The big problem for me is that we don't have enough big forwards who are consistently world class in the dog fight. That more than anything is what we have to fix.