Loose Pass: The futures of All Blacks head coach Ian Foster, Worcester Warriors and the Scottish Rugby Union

Lawrence Nolan

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with Ian Foster’s future, the Premiership’s future and Scottish rugby’s future…

Foster’s stay of execution

In a world currently full of imbalances and instability, there are bound to be those who fall off, or are shoved off, their chosen path. As Loose Pass has mentioned several times, the ongoing lawsuit regarding concussions has the potential to damage the finances and image of the game beyond repair.

But even within the game, the imbalances have disrupted things. New Zealand, isolated from the world for the best part of a couple of years at large by a mixture of their union’s strategic choices and the pandemic, slipped from first to fifth in the world in a few weeks after an unprecedented run of defeats.

Surely the coach had to go? I mean, you have Scott Robertson, universally acclaimed, recently-decorated and really good at creating money-spinning instagram reels for Silverlake with those breakdances, waiting in the wings. Meanwhile you have Foster looking weary, almost giving himself the vote of confidence notably absent from a number of his employer’s soundbites. The maths is obvious, right?

Well, normally yes, but New Zealand’s history points one quite significant lesson: you take the team into account.

Richie McCaw’s autobiography chapter in which he described the re-appointment process of Graham Henry, made as it was on the backdrop of a crushing Rugby World Cup defeat to France and with Robbie Deans champing at the bit to turn the All Blacks into the Crusaders, is instructive here.

When it came down to it, McCaw knew both that the team had bought into Henry’s vision, culture and identity, and that Henry had already had laid his plans for progression. He also believed that Henry’s willingness to engage with his players – an integral part of the culture he had fostered – weighed heavily in his favour.

Although there are far more people currently convinced that New Zealand Rugby have got it wrong (including one of our own columnists), it is critical to remember that New Zealand did at no time play like a team that had lost faith in its leadership. Nor has Foster, even under excruciating pressure, ever actually sounded like someone who was planless and closed off to his team.

Foster has taken on an All Black team which might be the leanest in terms of talent that there has been for some time. He has also done so through a pandemic which has likely had a for more isolating effect on New Zealand than some other countries (South Africa excepted). His own union has helped to cut from under him a crucial aspect of sub-international competition that the budding All Blacks are clearly missing. He’s lost a series against what is quite clearly the best Ireland team ever, and followed up by drawing a two-Test series away at the world champions. And the team has looked flat and tired at times.

But the team has not stopped playing for their coach, and he has not stopped working for them. And when it clicks, they are capable of some world-beating rugby. Loose Pass reckons New Zealand made the right choice and that there is a lot more to come from this team than many suspect.

The vultures circle

In the Premiership, a week ago it was the plight of Wasps, 155 years young, which caught our attention. Now it is Worcester, who appear to be in an even more grisly situation financially. Wasps are negotiating with bondholders and financiers anxious to ensure the club does not go under for fear of losing their investment. Worcester are negotiating with the tax man. That rarely ends well and nor, once petitions have been served, does it end slowly. The latest information suggests they have until August 31 to find their saviour, a marquee item in short supply in the imbalanced world.

But that is two clubs out of 13 on the brink, one economic shock potentially killing off 15 per cent of England’s top flight. The rest labour under a new, reduced salary cap, resources stretched ever further by a season that simply doesn’t look like ending. Not a good start to the season for a league that was intended to expand and grow.

The concussion issue in Scotland

The moving account from Siobhan Cattigan’s parents, combined with Cattigan’s team-mates’ recent distancing of themselves from a statement apparently made on their behalf about the care provided for her, has left the Scottish Rugby Union looking very much like it may end up liable for at least some of the responsibility for Cattigan’s death.

The union has been portrayed as villainous through much of the process, which is probably not entirely fair as there is quite likely much of the detail still to emerge. Brain injury is becoming documented, but how often, even in the current climate, is the truth only glaringly apparent when it is too late?

It is only the latest installment in the brain-injury boulder crashing down the hill towards the game.

A separate class-action lawsuit is also being prepared against the union, led by former international forward Kieran Low and Glasgow forward John Shaw, concerning long-term brain health problems.

Scotland is hardly a wealthy rugby country; the consequences of both actions (Cattigan’s parents are also intent on bringing action because they believe the Scotland coaches did not follow concussion protocols with their daughter) would be catastrophic for the union. Rugby, once again, is firefighting on multiple fronts.

READ MORE: Premiership: Worcester Warriors on the verge of entering administration – report