Irish rugby writer slams All Blacks calls Ian Foster "a clown"

Former Ireland lock and columnist for The Times, Neil Francis, has labelled All Blacks coach Ian Foster "a clown" as part of a scathing review of the side's performance against Ireland on Saturday.

Francis, who played as a lock for Ireland in 36 test matches - 22 of which were defeats - between 1987 and 1996, praised the resilience of New Zealand's defence, given the circumstances of playing the vast majority of the game with less than 15 players.

However, he didn't hold back elsewhere in his column, with Foster bearing the brunt of his blows.

Francis says Foster's leadership and decision-making skills have to be seriously questioned, citing his error in subbing off Ardie Savea, a lack of tactical nous from the backline and the selections of Leicester Fainga'anuku and Sam Cane as prime examples of incompetence.

"The baroque stupidity of Foster's decisions on and off the park are a testament to what happened on the field," Francis wrote.

"He made the huge mistake of taking off his best forward, Ardie Savea. It is not [Jaco] Peyper's fault that Foster does not know the rules governing replacements.

"For New Zealand, the malaise was palpable. Their back line on the day couldn't run a bath."

In November 2021, the All Blacks lost to Ireland for the third time in five matches, the 29-20 result in Dublin a convincing one for the Green and Whites and one which Francis highlighted as being emblematic of what he labels the All Blacks' "unease" while being "bossed at the breakdown all day" in both encounters.

"Sam Cane has been bang average for years and this could be his final series," Francis went on.

Francis then reserved several paragraphs for the performance of Fainga'anuku who he says deserved more than a yellow card for his late-hit on Irish winger Mack Hansen and whose defensive misjudgement led directly to Ireland's 48th minute try to Andrew Porter.

"Fainga'anuku had no idea what to do and was lost at sea as Ireland broke down the right wing... Can he defend? Well, that is the coach's job to know.

"Ireland underperformed in the first test — it is quite possible that they would land a few punches in the second test. Maybe in a much tighter match it would be enlightening to know whether your left wing knows not just how to tackle but to read the game defensively. The poor kid was hauled off directly after Ireland scored.

"Whose fault was it that he was out of his depth? Foster is a clown."

Francis, whose only test against the All Blacks was a 43-19 defeat at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, says Foster is coaching for his job this week.

"If New Zealand lose next week Foster is gone and [Joe] Schmidt is in, which is a pity because we will meet New Zealand in the quarter-finals again in France and I was rather hoping that Foster would still be bumbling along in charge."

After Ireland won its first ever match on New Zealand soil on Saturday, the side has an even 4-4 record in its past eight tests and it's the first time since 2009 that it has suffered three losses in the space of four tests.

New Zealand fans will be hoping the string of bad form leads to the kind of winning streak that followed that last slump in 2009; as Graham Henry's squad went on to win 15 on the trot and lost just three of its next 32 tests in the lead-up to winning the 2011 World Cup final at Eden Park.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission