WELLINGTON —
Ian Foster will coach the All
Blacks through to next year’s World Cup, New Zealand Rugby said on Wednesday,
giving him a vote of confidence despite recent poor performances.
اضافة اعلان
A relieved-looking Foster thanked the board and CEO
Mark Robinson for their “strong support” after a meeting to decide his fate.
“It’s a privilege to be in this job, it’s never
something you take for granted,” Foster said.
The 57-year-old stays in charge for the All Blacks’
next home Test, against Argentina in Christchurch on August 27, and will coach
New Zealand at the
Rugby World Cup in France in September 2023.
Foster will receive extra support with former
Ireland boss Joe Schmidt coaching the attack, having been a New Zealand
selector.
“Joe Schmidt has been on my radar for a couple of
years,” said Foster.
“We’ve decided to move him from the computer room to
put him on the park a bit more.”
Stewart Mitchell, chairman of New Zealand Rugby,
said the board had faith in Foster despite the All Blacks losing three of five
Test matches so far this year, triggering calls from fans and media for him to
be sacked.
“I want to absolutely emphasize that both Ian Foster
as head coach and Mark as CEO has full support from the board,” said Mitchell.
Foster had been under fierce pressure after
back-to-back home defeats to Ireland last month, followed by a heavy loss to
South Africa.
“It’s clearly been a difficult time, the start of
the campaign we didn’t get what we wanted against Ireland and that created a lot
of performance stress,” Foster said.
‘Shocked and disturbed’
Even after the All Blacks
bounced back last Saturday with a stunning 35-23 win over the Springboks in the
second Test in Johannesburg, New Zealand Rugby boss Robinson had refused to
publicly back Foster.
The All Blacks coach rejected a reporter’s
suggestion that he had been “hung out to dry”.
“In some ways that is part of the job and it’s part
of Robo (Robinson) and Stew’s (Mitchell) job as well to critique me,” said
Foster.
“I’d rather it wasn’t there, but we live in the real
world and we’re under pressure to perform. I don’t mind that.”
Foster already had the backing of senior All Blacks
Ardie Savea and captain Sam Cane after Saturday’s win.
Last week, former All Blacks winger Julian Savea used
Instagram to say he was “shocked and disturbed at some of the remarks about Ian
Foster on social media lately”.
Robinson admitted the last few weeks could have been
handled better.
“We are trying our best for our sport and our
people. Sure, we never get everything right, but at no stage do we ever not do
what’s best for our people,” he said.
There had also been calls in the
New Zealand media
for Robinson to stand down, but he insisted the All Blacks camp was united.
“The developments and changes we’ve seen and some of
the tweaks Foster (has made are) something we’re really excited about,” he
said.
“We believe — from board level, executive and player group —
we’re all behind this together.”
Read more Sports
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
