FOSTER - NOW GONE 🎉 - congrats kiwis

[Ymx]

Place holder for later ...

[FujiKiwi]

The worry is things will seem to go reasonably OK for a while. This will paper over the cracks.

[Muttonbird]

Last test match was 01 November 2019 and All Blacks players were still rested from Mitre 10 Cup.

Snowflakes.

[Ymx]

To be fair, he’s faced nearly a year now unbeaten.

[MungoMan]

To be fair, he’s faced nearly a year now unbeaten.

Sack him tonight and ensure that record is preserved.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

I can see this thread growing legs.

[Carter's Choice]

That's the worst I have ever seen the All Blacks play in NZ. Well done Ian Foster, we now have a level zero.

[ASMO]

That's the worst I have ever seen the All Blacks play in NZ. Well done Ian Foster, we now have a level zero.

Look on the bright side, you didn't lose, it's not Stuart Lancaster, and it can only get better from here on in....shirley.

[Monkey Magic]

Apart from sitting his sizeable frame on Rieko what can foster do for next week?

Team seemed to lack direction, missed a lot of tackles and had a pretty dire kicking game...

Forwards didn't secure the ball and space we needed but thought Mo had a too quiet a game, maybe trying to run everything off Smith

[Carter's Choice]

Sow All Black fans, what are your thoughts and reflections on Ian Foster's first test as Head Coach? Keeping in mind he's had 12 months, and been paid a million $NZD, to prepare solely for this test match.

[Ymx]

He seemed pretty relaxed about the outcome in the presser.

[Ymx]

Apart from sitting his sizeable frame on Rieko what can foster do for next week?

Team seemed to lack direction, missed a lot of tackles and had a pretty dire kicking game...

Forwards didn't secure the ball and space we needed but thought Mo had a too quiet a game, maybe trying to run everything off Smith

I’d have thought keeping ball would have been key. But didn’t see many long AB phases at all. Poor ball retention cost the team.

[Carter's Choice]

Before this match, and the great Wallaby performance, how many of the Wallaby XXIII would you have selected in a combined team? 1 or 2? This was a disgraceful coaching effort by Foster because of the talent he has at his disposal. The All Blacks played worse than the sum of their parts. No-one actually played well.

[Ymx]

0/1 at 0%

[Gumboot]

0/1 at 0%

Rennie, too. Is it time to bring in some NH coaches?

[obelixtim]

Sow All Black fans, what are your thoughts and reflections on Ian Foster's first test as Head Coach? Keeping in mind he's had 12 months, and been paid a million $NZD, to prepare solely for this test match.

That was a shit selection. Players out of position to fit them in the team.

Showed no passion, or desire.

Poorly motivated for an AB team. Complacent maybe. Out performed in all the stats.

That points directly at him.

[Auckman]

Weather made things difficult but they looked a bit lost at sea in the 2nd half. I'll wait to see how Eden Park goes.

[Jb1981]

Coaching the AB’s is a pressure job but has anyone had it as tough as Foster? He knows that he wasn’t the people’s choice and if he looks at himself, probably has a lot of self doubt. He’s been elevated to a position where everyone is now looking at him and many from a position of saying “you are not good enough”.

I wanted Razor and still do. I’m one of the people who doesn’t think that Foster has the CV or capability to do the job, but thinking of this from his position, the stress levels could go through the roof.

I guess this is the type of moment big coaches work for though and why the AB coach gets a big salary. I hope he can make some good decisions but am not holding much confidence. We’ll have to wait and see.

[obelixtim]

Weather made things difficult but they looked a bit lost at sea in the 2nd half. I'll wait to see how Eden Park goes.

Weather was the same for both teams. The Wobs wanted it more than the ABs.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Bananas Foster OUT!

[Guy Smiley]

Shit weather and the traditional disjointed, uncoordinated first up game of the season from the All Blacks.

I’m as keen as anyone else to see the back of Fozzie but a one game result is nothing to base a judgement on. Harden up drama queens. Stop your squealing and allow everyone the grace of a few games before throwing up your handbags in disgust...

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Shit coach in surprising no one SHOCK.

A bit like the RWC semi final we all felt a bit of discomfort in more out of position selections in the lead in to a big test.]

Once again it did not go well.

Seriously a good NZ club coach would do better than this shit.

[Ymx]

The worry is things will seem to go reasonably OK for a while. This will paper over the cracks.

By a while, you meant the first 20 mins.

[Monkey Magic]

The worry is things will seem to go reasonably OK for a while. This will paper over the cracks.

By a while, you meant the first 20 mins.

Even the first 20 we didn't look good but just able to do 1 counter attack

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Shit weather and the traditional disjointed, uncoordinated first up game of the season from the All Blacks.

I’m as keen as anyone else to see the back of Fozzie but a one game result is nothing to base a judgement on. Harden up drama queens. Stop your squealing and allow everyone the grace of a few games before throwing up your handbags in disgust...

And yet the Wallabies looked pretty sharp first time out the gate.

The difference? A decent coach who earned the job, rather than having it handed to him.

[Ymx]

He currently has the worst NZ coaching record ever. Need verification from Naki.

[ScarfaceClaw]

Hello. Do I sit anywhere on this bandwagon or is it allocated seating?

[Carter's Choice]

Shit coach in surprising no one SHOCK.

A bit like the RWC semi final we all felt a bit of discomfort in more out of position selections in the lead in to a big test.]

Once again it did not go well.

Seriously a good NZ club coach would do better than this shit.

Ian Foster fans and NZR sycophants arrogantly demanded that we show him the respect an All Black coach deserves. They demanded that we wait and see how his teams performed before he judged him, despite the fact that he's been a professional coach in NZ for decades.

Well, we waited. And this is the dross he served up. He's been strutting around NZ for the entire year, smugly collecting his $NZD 1 million a year salary, and this is the dross he served up. He's had almost an entire year to plan for this match, with an armada of highly paid assiatnt coaches supporting him, and yet today the entire AB team played poorly and there was no apparent strategy or game plan. I'm enraged. Today was not good enough. It was completely unacceptable.

[Tussock]

Lack of game plan... was Jordie on the wing so RMo could kick to him? If so, I don't think he did once... put him at fullback and bring in Clarke/Reece/Jordan (although he s/b fb). Jordie too slow for wing.

Struggled to get over gain line and poor ball handling/security.... AB's should have dominated up front/lineout.

While Cane played well thought he needed to manage the game/ref better.

Bring on Bledisloe II.... hopefully some resemblance of a game plan.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

I plan to introduce a new segment within this thread about Foster's Out Of Position Selections, or OOPS for short.

It's become a real problem in All Blacks teams of late and I think it needs to be highlighted.

Stand by for my first entry when the squad is named.

[Wild Beef]

Poor selections are not why we drew last weekend. I don’t recall much, if any, angst about the team before the game.

[Carter's Choice]

Poor selections are not why we drew last weekend. I don’t recall much, if any, angst about the team before the game.

Very much so. But in some ways that makes Foster's job even harder.It's much easier to select new players than it is to change tactics or turnaround form. Moreover, there are few easy targets for Foster to drop and blame as that was pretty much his first choice XXIII.

[Gumboot]

Fox has mentioned that a couple of players are injured. He also said there needs to be more physicality from the pack and implied selection changes are likely.

[Kiwias]

Apart from sitting his sizeable frame on Rieko what can foster do for next week?

Team seemed to lack direction, missed a lot of tackles and had a pretty dire kicking game...

Forwards didn't secure the ball and space we needed but thought Mo had a too quiet a game, maybe trying to run everything off Smith

Interesting in light of Smith's comments that he is disappointed in his passing and will work harder in Test 2 to ensure he is passing in front of the receiver.

[Enzedder]

Apart from sitting his sizeable frame on Rieko what can foster do for next week?

Team seemed to lack direction, missed a lot of tackles and had a pretty dire kicking game...

Forwards didn't secure the ball and space we needed but thought Mo had a too quiet a game, maybe trying to run everything off Smith

It is interesting that when players don't perform up to spec, it's the coach's fault. Unless he/they are from Canterbury of course.

I see that Aaron Smith has publicly stated that his passes were dire (e.g. at or behind RMo but surely they can talk to each other about that after 5 minutes and not rely on the coach to hold their hands for everything)

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Poor selections are not why we drew last weekend. I don’t recall much, if any, angst about the team before the game.

Here's my (prescient) initial take on the selections.

I have mixed thoughts about this. I'm very relieved to see Mo'unga get the nod at 10, that is the right call. The loose forward mix is good and the midfield is very exciting, even if I would have gone for the safer option of ALB over Ioane.

I'm not thrilled about the back three. I think there's an imbalance there in favour of Unwieldy White Guys. I'd have liked to see one of our flyers like Reece in the mix.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Apart from sitting his sizeable frame on Rieko what can foster do for next week?

Team seemed to lack direction, missed a lot of tackles and had a pretty dire kicking game...

Forwards didn't secure the ball and space we needed but thought Mo had a too quiet a game, maybe trying to run everything off Smith

It is interesting that when players don't perform up to spec, it's the coach's fault. Unless he/they are from Canterbury of course.

I see that Aaron Smith has publicly stated that his passes were dire (e.g. at or behind RMo but surely they can talk to each other about that after 5 minutes and not rely on the coach to hold their hands for everything)

If the strategy sucks, then Shirley it's fair to blame the coach, no?

I didn't see much of a game plan from the All Blacks last Sunday.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Apart from sitting his sizeable frame on Rieko what can foster do for next week?

Team seemed to lack direction, missed a lot of tackles and had a pretty dire kicking game...

Forwards didn't secure the ball and space we needed but thought Mo had a too quiet a game, maybe trying to run everything off Smith

Interesting in light of Smith's comments that he is disappointed in his passing and will work harder in Test 2 to ensure he is passing in front of the receiver.

I'm hoping there was also reflection on his shitty box kicking game and a desire to give more pill to Mo'unga so he can send it downtown.

[mrbrownstone]

Poor selections are not why we drew last weekend. I don’t recall much, if any, angst about the team before the game.

Here's my (prescient) initial take on the selections.

I have mixed thoughts about this. I'm very relieved to see Mo'unga get the nod at 10, that is the right call. The loose forward mix is good and the midfield is very exciting, even if I would have gone for the safer option of ALB over Ioane.

I'm not thrilled about the back three. I think there's an imbalance there in favour of Unwieldy White Guys. I'd have liked to see one of our flyers like Reece in the mix.

Agree with this especially. Back three lacked balance. We went away from the traditional two fullbacks and a strike winger model in favour of three fullbacks - and then didn't actually kick in a way that made use of that skillset.

If we follow the model fullback/strike wing model that has been so successful for years, I'd like to see Clarke/Reece/Ioane competing for one wing spot and Bridge/Jordan/Jordie competing for the other - obviously in a permutation that suits their natural left/right roles too. In the future I also see Faiinganuku competing for that 'power' wing role.

A Clarke/Jordan combo would be exciting and nicely balanced, although I'd probably revert to the tried and tested Bridge/Reece combo for now.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Poor selections are not why we drew last weekend. I don’t recall much, if any, angst about the team before the game.

Here's my (prescient) initial take on the selections.

I have mixed thoughts about this. I'm very relieved to see Mo'unga get the nod at 10, that is the right call. The loose forward mix is good and the midfield is very exciting, even if I would have gone for the safer option of ALB over Ioane.

I'm not thrilled about the back three. I think there's an imbalance there in favour of Unwieldy White Guys. I'd have liked to see one of our flyers like Reece in the mix.

Agree with this especially. Back three lacked balance. We went away from the traditional two fullbacks and a strike winger model in favour of three fullbacks - and then didn't actually kick in a way that made use of that skillset.

If we follow the model fullback/strike wing model that has been so successful for years, I'd like to see Clarke/Reece/Ioane competing for one wing spot and Bridge/Jordan/Jordie competing for the other - obviously in a permutation that suits their natural left/right roles too. In the future I also see Faiinganuku competing for that 'power' wing role.

A Clarke/Jordan combo would be exciting and nicely balanced, although I'd probably revert to the tried and tested Bridge/Reece combo for now.

These options definitely make more sense to me.