Rugby World Cup, All Blacks review: The Nearly Men who stumbled on final step to greatness
From where this team stood a year or so out from the global tournament, having gone through more dips than a theme park rollercoaster, even getting to the final and having a real shot at a fourth World Cup title was a remarkable achievement. Foster undoubtedly had some crucial help – it was no coincidence this team transformed once the influential Jason Ryan and Joe Schmidt came on board – but a coach who at times looked a lost soul during his four-year tenure as boss, got his team humming in the nick of time.
That they were denied the ultimate finish through a cruel twist of circumstances probably casts him into the role of Nearly Man. Close but no cigar. Tumbled on the last ascent to the mountaintop. But it’s a heck of a lot better than where he seemed headed round August last year when his team had lost six of their last eight tests, his bosses were about to pull the trigger on Plan B, and this proud and iconic team seemed stuck somewhere between a rock and a hard place.
Even World Cup year had its tribulations. The All Blacks swept imperiously through the Rugby Championship (for what that was worth), but were messy in Bledisloe II and got thumped (35-7) by the Boks at Twickenham to round off preparations with their biggest defeat in test history. Foster had his highlights, and collected his trophies, but he also presided over some historical low points, such as the home series defeat to Ireland (from 1-0 up), twin losses to Argentina and the first ever pool stage setback at a Rugby World Cup.
That came, of course, when the undermanned All Blacks (down four key starters) fell 27-13 to the hosts on opening night on September 8 (a lifetime ago). But that stumble just lit their fuse as they waltzed through pool play with an explosion of high-octane rugby; outlasted Ireland 28-24 in a quarterfinal for the ages that was their best performance of the Foster era; then walloped Argentina 44-6 in a ridiculously one-sided semi.
Ultimately the final proved just beyond them, with the Springboks edging a titanic affair 12-11. But, given the circumstances (they spent 61 minutes with 14 players), the opposition (the remarkably resilient South Africans ticked off a third straight one-point victory) and the rub of the green that went horribly against them (TMO Tom Foley will certainly not make Foster’s Christmas card list), it was a mighty effort to get so close.
To a man they were crestfallen afterwards, but they deserved to walk off Stade de France with heads held high. Skipper Sam Cane says he will live the rest of his life knowing his red card cost his team the World Cup, and that’s just unfair. It could, and should, have stayed a yellow (as Siya Kolisi’s did for a pretty similar transgression) and this final should have been 15 on 15 for most of its course.
The All Blacks should acknowledge they made too many costly errors (Beauden Barrett had a shoddy final after a good tournament hitherto, and even the outstanding Will Jordan grassed a few he would normally gobble up) and their ill-discipline undid them, as it had done many times before. And at the very end of a World Cup where they set the standard for finishing – scoring a tournament-high 49 tries, 19 more than any other side – they spurned multiple openings that would have got them in front of those pesky Boks.
Still, the pluck, courage and skill of those undermanned forwards to go toe to toe with the outstanding South Africans, and give themselves a shot was incredible. Foster afterwards said the final was his “proudest” moment, and you could see why.
Ardie Savea, crowned world player of the year the next day, was the heart and soul of this team at the cup. The man is a marvel, and a great New Zealander with humility, grace and dignity to match his power, athleticism and skill. Scott Barrett and Codie Taylor also had strong tournaments, Shannon Frizell was a consistent performer at No 6, Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick went out with their standards high and emerging props Ethan de Groot, Tyrel Lomax and Tamaiti Williams will only be better for this experience.
In the backs Will Jordan, Jordie Barrett and Richie Mo’unga were the pick of a group who played the most positive rugby of the tournament. Aaron Smith bowed out with some turn-back-the-clock performances, too, and Mark Telea repeatedly demonstrated why his skillset is tailor-made for test rugby. Quite why the dynamic Cam Roigard fell out of favour as backup halfback remains a mystery, and probably goes down as a Foster misread.
So to the coach. This enigmatic chap claims he took on the highest-pressure job in New Zealand sport (nay life) with his eyes wide open, but struggled mightily to accept criticism when it was warranted. He almost had the ultimate final say, but not quite.
Asked if he left the team in a better place than he found it, he said that was not his call to make. “If you ask me am I proud of what we’ve done, the answer is yes, and I’ll leave it to everyone else to answer the other one. My proudest moment was [the final] … to see the team give everything and to play for a cause was pretty special.”
Yes, he agreed, it wasn’t life or death. But he offered this: “We see our role as being the best we can be, and if we do that you get a little glimpse of a chance to put a smile on people’s faces amidst all the other stuff that goes on in life. It’s hard. You feel like we haven't quite done what we wanted, but the flipside is hopefully people will see it mattered to this group, and we did everything we could and on the day were beaten by a team that did a little bit more.”
Asked to reflect on his time, Foster turned a little dark. “Everyone has got their interpretations of the last four years, and you’ve got people here who … have a different filter of how they view you. They’ve got a filter where they didn’t want you in the first place, so they filter everything you do based on that.
“I’m going to go to bed with a smile on my face, and a sense of satisfaction, but a bit of a hole of not achieving the final goal. I’ll leave the rest to others. What I’ve learned in the last four years is how I want to be remembered doesn’t really matter because everyone else is going to write their views and it’s hard to compete with that. I’m proud of this group, and if I get remembered from within as someone who cared and united this group, then I’ll take that.”
Isn’t it ironic? The man who struggled to accept criticism at times in his tenure signs off with a World Cup it was very hard to fault.
All Blacks at RWC 2023
Pool play: lost to France 13-27; beat Namibia 71-3; beat Italy 96-17; beat Uruguay 73-0. Quarterfinal: beat Ireland 28-24. Semifinal: beat Argentina 44-6. Final: lost to South Africa 11-12.
