About Schmidt, the kingmaker

PLUS: The Black Ferns were a bright spot in some bland rugby fare.

Sam Cane during the All Blacks disjointed performance in Japan. Tsutomu Kishimoto / Photosport

A few lines from a weekend story was all it took to force a meditation on the meaning of life and loyalty.

The Herald article about the backstory behind the retention of Ian Foster ($) nagged away at me long after I read it.

Not because it was all revelatory. The stuff about Super Rugby clubs beginning a search for new coaches had already been covered and the whole “in-principle” nature of the NZR’s talks with Scott Robertson during the Rugby Championship was intriguing but only in a red herring type of way.

Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson was sounded out by NZR, to present a plan of who he would want in his wider team should the head coaching job become available.

The conversation with Robertson was sanctioned by NZR on “in principle” basis.

You either meet to discuss the possibility of taking the role, or you don’t. The framework of the conversation cannot alter the fact that these talks do not happen in isolation and without good reason.

Semantics aside, what I struggled to wrap my head around in Gregor Paul’s well-sourced and captivating story was that it seemed designed to make New Zealand Rugby’s processes appear more robust than they had been given credit for and yet, for me, it had the opposite effect.

If I was forced to sum up the story in a sentence it would be: “OK Joe, we’re incapable of sorting this shambles out, so you pick a side and we’ll go with it.”

To wit:

The first and most important development was that Schmidt ruled out working with Robertson after the two had met.

Schmidt, it is believed, explained that he felt a loyalty to Foster and discomfort at being asked to meet with another potential head coach.

The process had challenged his integrity, but having fulfilled his employer’s request and in declaring his allegiance to Foster as his reason for not wanting to jump ship, he came out with a clear conscience.

Schmidt’s loyalty tipped the balance in favour of the incumbent…

There were other reasons, too, notably the cost of replacing one coaching team with another, but Schmidt’s role appears pivotal.

The only conclusion you can sensibly reach is that Ian Foster was doing a bad job - bad enough for a bunch of teams to start scrambling for new coaches - but was saved by Schmidt employing some timeless rugby broheem’ery.

It is apt because it was this same sort of old boys’ network that secured Foster the top job after the 2019 World Cup, when available evidence seemed to suggest the All Blacks were in need of new ideas and a different direction.

The coaching saga has been a mare’s nest and that doesn’t change, although I will concede that everybody might have been shown in a better light if the piece hadn’t been immediately followed by the sort of All Blacks’ performance that has all-too-often pockmarked Foster’s reign: directionless, skittish and defensively frail.

The story, the match and the aftermath indicated there is a schism developing among New Zealand’s coaches between the old and new(ish) schools: those who believe in the power of continuity and those effectively shut out by it.

Japan coach Jamie Joseph highlighted this in his droll post-match blether, referencing the All Blacks’ lost aura and England being a “better team”. Foster couldn’t help but respond to by noting how happy the Japan coach (and unsuccessful All Black applicant) seemed to be with a loss.

All good fun, but with an undeniable edge. An outsider poking the ultimate insider with a sharpened stick - the insider reminding the outsider that moral victories don’t count.

There is a lot of pressure on Schmidt, whether he likes it or not. He was the reluctant kingmaker; now he needs to embrace the fact he is the power behind the throne.

As Joseph indelicately and indirectly pointed out, we’ll know in a month whether Schmidt’s loyalty was far-sighted or merely self-serving.

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One team that did make a coaching change late in the piece was the Black Ferns. While NZR’s hand was forced after Glenn Moore’s position became untenable, it has nevertheless worked out well with Wayne Smith’s side purring through their quarter-final against Wales 55-3.

England captain and coach Sarah Hunter and Simon Middleton have installed the Black Ferns as tournament favourites, though you imagine this was said for the benefit of France, New Zealand’s semifinal opponents, more than anyone.

This is no doubt an unpopular opinion, but the tournament format is dreadful and it created a low-suspense quarter-final round.

Two pools of six with the top two qualifying straight for the semifinals would have been far more appetising, achieving the dual aim of creating more rugby, more pivotal pool matches and, importantly, more games for the ‘minnows’ against similar strength teams.

It would have also required one round of midweek matches and potentially multiple venues per day, which would have subsequently ramped up match-day and accommodation costs - but the tournament would have been richer for it.

As it was,  you effectively have a stagnant week to start your knockout rounds.

The Black Ferns were, again, head and shoulders above the rest in terms of ‘watchability’. The three-quarters get most of the headlines - for good reason - but skipper Ruahei Demant and Theresa Fitzpatrick are a sparkling five-eighth combination.

The angles they run and their link play is so sharp that I’m starting to believe that back-to-back wins against France and probably England is not as improbable as it seemed 12 months ago.

Unsurprisingly, Saturday’s semifinal is being touted as a shot at redemption.

The Red Roses, meanwhile, are conquering the world one rolling maul at a time. Fair play to them, they’re fantastic at that skill even if I’m never going to be in love with it.

I did see this, however, and after initially pooh-poohing it, I’m coming round to the idea.

mark smith @markismith50

Suggested law change, came up in discussion chatting to a mate earlier. If you kick a penalty into touch in the opposition 22 you don’t get the throw at the lineout. Would mitigate the tedium of teams kicking for the corner all the time and the interminable stream of maul tries

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Check out these scores: 48-10, 94-4, 30-14, 66-6, 74-12, 92-10, 62-4.  

They’re all from the third-round of the incredibly disappointing-to-date Rugby League World Cup, which basically starts now.

The Kiwis were mostly unimpressive in beating Ireland 48-10 and while a quarter-final against Fiji is manageable, they’re going to have to find some rhythm soon.

As a correspondent noted: “Looking like a team full of individuals who are easily rattled, lack timing, combinations and still don’t appear to have a ‘style’. Add to that 12 points missed due to not having a goalkicker and it’s making me very uncomfortable [when] compared to the slick Kangaroos and Poms.”

One thing is for certain - they would have had more use for Roger Tuivasa-Sheck at the moment than Ian Foster has.

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Australia are leading England 2-0 in their ongoing netball series. That’s not the best news they’ve had recently, though.

THIS WEEK

Yeah, Glenn Phillips was incredible. I’ll address that among other cricket things in midweek, following the Black Caps’ crucial clash with England in Brisbane and before I head down to the Bay Oval to embarrass myself in a T20 match for The ACC v The Dulux Tradies XI.