Rugby World Cup final: Ian Foster’s NZ campaign shows Australia what could have been under Dave Rennie
Ian Foster won’t be All Blacks’ coach in 2024, but he’s every chance of winning a World Cup. As JAMIE PANDARAM asks, imagine if Dave Rennie was given the same shot by Australia?
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When Kiwis were calling for the head of Ian Foster last year, few could have imagined he’d be in the World Cup final while Dave Rennie would be in Japan having never received the opportunity to coach at the tournament.
While New Zealand Rugby held their nerve after emergency meetings last August and kept Foster on – despite a number of alarming defeats in 2022 – Rugby Australia panicked and sacked Rennie at the start of this year, bringing in Eddie Jones who led the Wallabies to their worst ever World Cup campaign.
Foster got the chance to take New Zealand to the tournament, but when NZR opened up the position earlier this year from 2024, he decided he’d step down from the role, anticipating the hiring process would see him fired in favour of Robertson.
So Robertson got a four-year contract from 2024-27, and Foster knew regardless of how he performed at this World Cup, it would be his final stint.
It’s quite the story for Foster, who began his All Blacks coaching career in 2012 after joining Steve Hansen, taking New Zealand to the 2015 title.
Ironically, the head coaching job of the Chiefs that Foster vacated to join the All Blacks was taken by Rennie, who led them to the Super Rugby titles that year and 2013.
Rennie has been in Japan, where he’d landed a job with Kobe Steelers, watching the Wallabies implode under Jones, who is constantly being linked with the head coaching role of Japan.
Had he been allowed to fulfil his contract, and take the Wallabies to the tournament in France having built a three-year plan and formed close relationships with the players, it is unlikely Australia would have been bundled out in the pool stages.
But history won’t change. Rennie missed out on his opportunity, while Foster will attempt to create new history with his against South Africa in the decider.
The team that wins on Sunday morning (6AM AEDT) will become the first nation to hoist the World Cup four times.
Foster was asked if he was “at peace” now given the arduous journey he’s had from nearly losing his job last year.
“Am I at peace? Yeah, I’m reasonably peaceful,” Foster said.
“I love the word but I’m not sure I’m peaceful right now. We are where we want to be. We may have lost to France at the start of this tournament but this team has thrived on focusing on the now. It’s something we’ve loved doing, it enables us to deal with any outside noise around the team.
“It’s the life of this business, it’s a tough game. It’s tough when you’re trying to get your performance right. It’s a tough game when people around you see things differently, but we’ve learned a lot about ourselves. We take massive pride in the jersey and making sure we reach the levels we want to. The rest of that is probably a conversation for another day.
“It hasn’t altered our vision of where we want this team to be. I know we’ve surprised a few people but I don’t think we’ve surprised ourselves.”
All Blacks players were more open about Foster.
“We’ve seen what Fozzy [Foster] and (captain) Sam [Cane] went through off the field and I think the group knew where they needed to go,” lock Brodie Rettalick said.
“He has come out of that and coached this group to where we needed to be. The ultimate way to pay respect is to get the job done on Saturday night and show him how much the players have enjoyed having him as our head coach.”
Kiwi centre Jordie Barrett said: “It’s been great to see the players put some performances out there that reflect his coaching ability. There is no mistaking that we are under a lot of pressure, players and coaches. It was a rocky period but we are reaping the rewards now and we have a big challenge again.”
Sport is littered with odd scenarios.
Foster may have decided not to reapply for his job, but in his mind he’ll believe he was doomed anyway and was essentially sacked.
It was the first time in history the All Blacks head coaching role had been advertised in a World Cup year with a coach contracted to the end of the tournament.
For Foster to win the trophy despite that would be sweet revenge against Kiwi powerbrokers and his many critics.
Funnily enough, there might soon be a coaching job going in Australia if he’s interested.
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Originally published as Rugby World Cup final: Ian Foster’s NZ campaign shows Australia what could have been under Dave Rennie
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