Rugby World Cup 2023: Ian Foster fires up over losing Ethan de Groot for 2 games

In a way it was understandable. Foster had just lost his most accomplished loosehead prop for the final two pool matches of the World Cup after making a hurried trip to Paris to argue what he thought was a pretty strong case.

The independent disciplinary committee did not agree, finding that de Groot’s 72nd-minute shoulder to the head of replacement Namibia forward Adriaan Booysen in Toulouse merited suspension because of its reckless and dangerous manner, decreeing that the prop’s lack of any attempt to wrap had proved the defining factor.

The upshot then was that the entry point of six weeks became three (essentially for good behaviour), which then, crucially, became two for completing the obligatory coaching intervention programme. He will return for the quarterfinal, providing the New Zealanders progress that far.

In many ways Foster should have been happy to lose de Groot for only the key pool clash against Italy in Lyon (September 29) and the group finale against Uruguay on October 5. It could have been worse.

He wasn’t. In fact he was distinctly unhappy when he charged over at the end of a well-attended Monday evening public training session in Bordeaux to speak to the media.

“You’re always disappointed,” he said when asked his reaction to the suspension. “It is what it is. Went to Paris, big old day, argued our case, and a little bit surprised. But we’ll just have to suck that up and take it.”

Foster had said immediately after Friday’s 71-3 towelling of the Namibians that he felt de Groot’s point of contact had been shoulder on shoulder, and he was confident of a positive outcome at the judiciary.

He was not keen to expand on the case presented in Paris by the time he had returned to Bordeaux (where the All Blacks are spending bye week, before returning to their Lyon base), nor the reason for his surprise at the outcome.

“I’m not going to go into detail,” he barked. “That’s the process, and we’ve got to respect that. But there’s a lot of layers in the judiciary now between referees and TMOs, and then we’ve got the bunker, and even those three weren’t totally aligned on it.”

After the match he had also called for better consistency in these shoulder to head contacts, referencing a decidedly similar incident in France’s victory over Uruguay that only yielded a yellow card.

“Ahh, I’ll leave that,” he responded when asked to speak to those concerns. “I’m not sure ours was a significant shoulder to head contact.

“It’s frustrating. It’s one of those things. You’ve just got to deal with it. As frustrated as we are, you’ve just got to keep moving on. He’s going to miss the next two games, but he’ll have a job to do in the meantime.”

Foster said de Groot had taken the news as well as could be expected, and reiterated he had faith in Ofa Tuungafasi and Tamaiti Williams – yet to appear at this World Cup – to pick up the load for Italy and Uruguay.

“They’re good players. They’ve been picked for a reason. We’ve got six props, we’re one down … that leaves five.”

The head coach did shrug off any suggestion he or his team had been unsettled by a run of injuries, and now another red card (their second in the last three tests). Key starters Sam Cane, Jordie Barrett, Shannon Frizell and Tyrel Lomax had all missed the first two matches, though are all on the verge of returning to action.

“We’re actually getting quite settled,” added Foster. “We’ve had a few injuries, but I think we’re climbing out of that. There are some positive signs around the health of the squad This is an inevitable part of the game and it’s happened for Ethan. But we’ve got to make sure there are no excuses. We’ve got to do what we need to this week in Bordeaux, and make sure we’re ready for a pretty big game in Lyon.”

Asked what this little diversion to wine country was about, the eyes narrowed.

“Bye week in a World Cup is tricky. It’s a little bit of a breathing space. We’ve had a run round here today in front of a fantastic crowd (10,000 jubilant locals filled half of the stadium).

“We’ve got two big sessions this week, and we’re determined to get some hard work in. We haven’t been able to have a lot of hard, physical sessions this campaign because of numbers up front. Now we can. We need to use that smartly because we’ve got some big challenges coming up.”

Challenges they must now face without their best young prop.