THE KNIVES WERE out for Ian Foster. The people wanted Razor.
This was just last year. The All Blacks had been beaten by Ireland in their home series, the first-ever such loss on New Zealand soil.
Many of their fans wanted blood. New Zealand Rugby appeared to be ready to act and Foster’s job was genuinely on the line. He survived after a group of his senior players went to the union and urged them to stick with ‘Fossie’.
There had to be changes and the transformation has been resounding. Now, the All Blacks are just one win away from being world champions, having hammered Argentina 44-6 in tonight’s semi-final in Paris.
There has been a strong turnover in playing personnel over the last year, while the coaching team around Foster looks very different too.
Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan have been hugely influential in making them a better-organised, more precise team, but Foster deserves credit for steering the ship. Former Ireland scrum coach Greg Feek has done fine work, while Scott McLeod redesigned their defensive system in the wake of the Irish series. That defence has been key in the Kiwis reaching this World Cup final.
Foster would be entitled to feel a bit smug now, having been written off and even derided when things weren’t going well. But the thing is that Foster is now just one game away from the end of his reign as All Blacks coach.
New Zealand Rugby [NZR] have already lined Scott ‘Razor’ Robertson up as their new head coach. Having enjoyed huge success with the Crusaders, Robertson will step up as All Blacks boss.
Foster didn’t even reapply for his job earlier this year when NZR were going through this process. He clearly felt that it wasn’t worthwhile. It was the worst-kept secret in rugby that Razor was getting the job.
It must have been very difficult for Foster to deal with that saga. He must have felt NZR had hung him out to dry. What a remarkable way it would be for him to finish his time as All Blacks boss if they can do it against South Africa or England in next weekend’s final.
It would also be deeply satisfying for Schmidt, who tasted such World Cup pain with Ireland in 2015 and 2019. He took a huge amount of flak after the latter campaign in particular and even continued to be indirectly criticised in recent months as Ireland spoke about how much better their pre-season was than back in 2019.
Now, Schmidt is in a World Cup final with his native land.
Given how the All Blacks barely had to get out of second gear in tonight’s semi-final win over Argentina, they will fancy themselves to deliver a big performance in the decider. Foster was able to start taking off key players as early as the 56th minute, while they didn’t bother sending Scott Barrett back on after his sin-bin period concluded near the end of the game. Instead, the Kiwis chose to play the final five minutes with only 14 players.
Remarkably, New Zealand are into the final after only really delivering one truly outstanding performance. They were good for spells in the opening-night defeat to France, had three handy pool games after that, then got to a seriously impressive peak to beat Ireland in last weekend’s quarter-final. Tonight’s win over Argentina felt like just another one of those handy pool ties.
They will also have an extra day of rest over tomorrow’s semi-final winner, with the Springboks strong favourites in that one.
All of that said, the All Blacks did have to get through a lot of defensive work tonight in a game that had a high ball-in-play time. After making 226 tackles against Ireland last weekend, they made another 195 tonight.
World Rugby will be praying things aren’t as one-sided in the second semi and the All Blacks will be hoping that England can give the South Africans a physically demanding night if they are to advance.
Of course, the Boks pulverised the Kiwis in their final World Cup warm-up game but it would be a shock if the final was anything like that. First, though, the South Africans have to overcome their semi-final hurdle.
The All Blacks have already done that. For the fifth time, New Zealand will be part of the World Cup final. They already have three titles and now they’re one big performance away from sending Foster off in style.
