Ex-All Blacks coach opens up on ‘uncomfortable’ stint after being ‘fall guy’ during Ian Foster’s reign
Former All Blacks head coach Ian Foster and current Crusaders attack guru Brad Mooar.
Brad Mooar has taken a philosophical approach to his time as All Blacks coach after his stint under Ian Foster ended in unceremonious circumstances.
The 50-year-old is back coaching in New Zealand, almost three years after he was axed as their attack guru in July 2022 following the team’s poor run of form.
Mooar and John Plumtree were the sacrificial lambs for the All Blacks’ struggles under Foster as they were replaced by Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan.
Since then, Plumtree has taken the role of head honcho at the Sharks, but his fellow discarded coach is back at the Crusaders after a stint at Gregor Townsend’s Scotland.
Becoming the ‘fall guys’
Making an appearance on the GBRANZ podcast, host Andy Rowe asked Mooar about the impact it had on him and his family when he and Plumtree became the “fall guys” just over a year out from the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
“It was not really comfortable, I can tell you that, but my wife and I have a philosophy where we’re happily aligned in this space of where you have experiences in life,” he said.
“As people we put good and bad before the word experiences, but if you remove good and bad and you just have experiences, it’s genuinely, ‘what was that about? What would you do differently? What have you learnt from it? How can you be better?’
“Whether that’s been a comfortable experience because something’s gone well, or a more uncomfortable experience because it’s news you don’t want to deal with.
“What your values are and being clear on that, how you live life, what’s really important to you and how you want to respond to something is very, very important.
“How did it impact? We can’t control what’s happening with the decision, what happens now, but what we can control is how we respond.
“And you find out pretty quickly that there’s a lot of other stuff going on in the world that you’re not walking around with a sandwich board on that says, ‘look at me, look at me.’”
Discarded All Blacks coach holds no ‘grudges’ as he rejoins the Crusaders after ‘tough’ experience
Crusaders success and All Blacks environment
Mooar enjoyed remarkable success as the Crusaders’ attack coach between 2016 and 2019, winning three Super Rugby titles, before he took up a position in Wales with the Scarlets.
However, the All Blacks would soon come calling after he was headhunted in the wake of Foster’s appointment as head coach.
The 50-year-old admitted that becoming part of that environment was initially daunting before he eventually settled into the role.
“I was preparing for that first backs meeting like it was a full theatre scenario of lines, what am I saying here? What’s the message? What do I show? Rather than rolling with it,” Mooar added.
“But sure enough, you sit down and you’re having a yarn. You have met these people before – some you know better than others – but at the same time I definitely felt the weight of, ‘this is the All Blacks’ and ‘I’ve got to get this right.’
“Looking back you would just do what you would advise anybody else: you’re here for a reason, be yourself, go get it and enjoy it.”
