Former All Blacks head coach Ian Foster’s new book, Leading Under Pressure, explains how his side’s victory over the Springboks in Johannesburg in 2022 saved his job.
Foster, who served as New Zealand’s assistant coach from 2012 to 2019, took over the coaching reins from Steve Hansen after the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and his book gives his personal account of his time in charge of the All Blacks.
However, his stint in charge of the three-time world champions was a turbulent one and after some indifferent results, including a 26-10 defeat to arch rivals South Africa the previous week, there were rumours that Foster would be fired from his job.
Ian Foster details turbulent Springboks tour
A run of five losses from six Tests put Foster in the firing line and in an extract from his book, which was published in the New Zealand Herald, he goes into detail on what exactly happened after the All Blacks clinched a shock 35-23 victory over the Springboks at Ellis Park.
“I suspect there will always be different accounts of what exactly happened in the hours after we won at Ellis Park, and whether I was going to be fired on the Sunday morning if not for a late change of heart. Only Robbo [Mark Robinson, New Zealand Rugby CEO] and the board know the answer to that. All I know is my version of events, which began when Sam Cane and Ardie Savea bailed me up in the tunnel as I was making my way to the press conference.”
“‘Right, everything is all sorted now,’” Sam said.
“‘What do you mean by that?’” I replied.
“‘You’re not going to resign now,’” he said firmly.
“I was surprised that he thought that had been an option, because I’d never said anything to anyone about resigning. I didn’t ask where they’d got that idea from, but it seemed they felt that would be my solution.
“But now they said it wasn’t an option: that they had put everything on the line to win, and they were urging me to think again.”
“’I have no idea what the future holds or whether I’m going to be the All Blacks coach tomorrow,’” I told Sam and Ardie, “’but I promise you one thing: I won’t be resigning.’”
“That was where I left it, but they said: “’We’re going to do something about this.’”
“I didn’t think they had any cards to play and assured them they’d done everything they could already.”
“’You’ve done everything you can do by winning,’” I replied. “It’s in the CEO’s hands now.’”
“I didn’t direct them or encourage them, but they said they wanted to talk to Robbo. All I said was: “’That’s your choice. This is not my game anymore. I’ve done what I have to do, and now it is everyone else’s choices.’”
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“When I got back to the hotel, I found out that the All Blacks leaders had decided to call a meeting with the CEO. They didn’t tell me directly that they were doing that, and the whole time I was All Blacks coach, I never knew what was said at that meeting, because I never asked.
Foster added that Robinson joined the team’s barbecue later that evening and attempted to chat normally with him but at that point, he had lost the respect he had for the CEO.
“It was a hard relationship for me to figure out how to be because I felt there were so many things happening around me and behind me. There was not a lot of trust between us anymore. In fact, I would even say there was zero trust,” Foster wrote.
“I went to bed feeling satisfied with what we’d achieved that day. As I was about to turn out the light, my phone lit up with a message from Robbo asking if I was available for a chat. I knew he was going to do a media conference the next day and what he wanted to do was say he’d spoken to me before he announced whatever he planned to say the next morning. I didn’t want to ruin my night, so I turned my phone off.”
Fronting up to the CEO
Forster went on to reveal the conversation that he had with All Blacks’ communications manager Matt Manukia who confirmed that Robinson would be going ahead with his media conference and asked what the head coach would be saying a hour later.
Manukia informed Foster that his comments after the win over the Springboks did not go down well with New Zealand Rugby. He later updated the coach, stating that Robinson’s conference left journalists ‘spewing’ as he had nothing to say.
“Robbo’s basic message had been that he was going home and would talk to his board about my future,” Foster continued.
“Like I say, only Robbo will know the answer, but I think we forced NZR into changing their plan – or at least we put enough pressure on them that they were no longer willing to commit to definitive action until they had reconvened and talked it over.
“After Robbo had finished with the media, he texted me to ask if we could have a coffee. I said yes, but was quite specific that we would meet in the foyer of the hotel, where everyone would be able to see us. I didn’t want to be tucked away in a secluded corner for this conversation.
“I asked him how his conference had gone and he said okay, and then straight off the bat he told me that all the leaks to the media had to stop. I had no idea to what leaks he was referring to.”
“’Why are you talking to me about that?’” I asked. He doubled down: “’There is too much stuff coming out and we have got to stop it.’”
“’Do you think I am doing that?’” I said in disbelief.
“Well, if it’s not you, it’s people around you, or people you can control.’”
“It felt like we were going well off-piste, but as he’d brought it up and seemed keen to talk about, I decided to make a few things clear. “Robbo, I haven’t got a media strategy to undermine you or to leak anything,” I said firmly. “It doesn’t serve my interests when the team is leaked and all that sort of stuff. I don’t know why you’re saying it’s me or someone in my set-up. By the way, have you looked over your shoulder at your own board?”
“Robbo told me that he thought he had his board under control and that no one was leaking from inside the organisation.
“Whatever the point of this exchange had been, I felt it needed to end.’ “Why don’t we agree that you’ll look over your shoulder at your board and I’ll look over my shoulder at my group?” I said.
“I think we were having this odd exchange about media leaks because Robbo had nothing else to say to me. He certainly didn’t have any clarity about my future. All he told me was that he had to go back to New Zealand and talk to the board, and that he’d be in touch early next week.”
Foster felt as though the whole exchange was ‘wishy-washy’ with Robinson stuck in no man’s land, where he was not willing to fire him but also not willing to provide any assurances either.
He added that the CEO needed to be cautious about what he had said as Robinson was set to meet with Scott Robertson with regards to taking over the head coaching role and suspected that Foster was aware of that fact.
He added that the All Blacks’ leadership group had bailed the CEO out of making a decision. Foster would go on to repeat what he said after the final whistle at Ellis Park at his press conference and upon his return to New Zealand, he got in contact with Joe Schmidt to persuade him to change his role from analyst and selector to attack coach.
The former Ireland coach duly accepted despite Foster being unsure about his position as head coach ahead of the Test against Argentina.
He continued: “Robbo and Lendo [NZR general manager, professional rugby and performance Chris Lendrum] were back at my house the next day with some news. The NZR board had decided to stick with me as coach and was backing me through to the 2023 World Cup.’
“Our conversation was matter-of-fact, perfunctory, but that was fine with me. I told them that Joe was going to join us as an assistant coach, and they were pleased with that.
“I would be very surprised if Robbo hadn’t spoken to Joe about this beforehand at some point, because they’d already been speaking to him about Razor. So I don’t know how surprised they were by my news, but I felt it was clearly the right thing for the team.
“The next day, I went up to Auckland and did a media conference with Robbo and the NZR chair, Stewart Mitchell, who both said they were backing me 100% to the Rugby World Cup.
“What I found most interesting about this whole period was that Robbo had let the media define his strategy. I never felt that he or the NZR board had a clear strategy of their own.
“They were constantly coming up with ad-hoc plans. Within the All Blacks, we had a defined strategy that was guided by a simple principle of always doing the right thing for the team. I don’t think Robbo ever understood that, and it was becoming almost impossible to function effectively because of the lack of alignment and unity.”
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