Sam Whitelock: ‘All Blacks were not being coached well enough’
Former All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock and ex-coach Joe Schmidt.
All Blacks legend Sam Whitelock has opened up on the tumultuous period under Ian Foster which saw two members of the coaching staff replaced.
Foster took over following the 2019 Rugby World Cup but endured a difficult period in charge of the national team, setting a number of unwanted records.
That included first home defeats to Argentina and Ireland, and a record loss against South Africa, results which almost led to the head coach being sacked.
Backroom team changed
New Zealand Rugby decided to retain the All Blacks boss, however, and instead replaced a couple of the backroom team, with John Plumtree and Brad Mooar getting the axe.
“We were not being coached well enough,” Whitelock wrote in his autobiography Samuel Whitelock: View from the Second Row. “We needed to change. I recognised that after the northern tour at the end of 2021, when we were well beaten by France and Ireland and, in my opinion, had prepared too many excuses for our under-performance.
“The balance of the coaching group wasn’t right. They all had strengths, but we didn’t have enough strengths across the board. There were holes in the group.
“Just as I believe the All Blacks is no place to select development players, it should also be reserved for the best of the best coaches, but the appointment process doesn’t really allow for that because you’re forced to assemble a team beforehand.
“In fact, the best coaching team might be a mix of candidates from the various groups put forward. Fozzie didn’t have enough international experience and skills in his team, and Plums and Brad paid the price for that.”
Plumtree and Mooar were replaced in July 2022 with Jason Ryan and Joe Schmidt coming into Foster’s backroom team.
There was an immediate difference with Schmidt and Ryan in situ before the All Blacks improved even more in 2023, culminating in the Rugby World Cup final in France.
New coaches influence
“I knew and respected people on both sides,” Whitelock wrote. “I was excited for Mutt (Ryan) and Joe Schmidt, and was looking forward to getting stuck in and working with them, but I was disappointed for Brad and Plums, the guys they were replacing.
“Within the All Blacks set-up, the coaching dynamics changed straightaway. We had conceded a lot of maul tries and it was not a strength of ours. We were leaking points through the heart of the tight five.
“We’d been trying to fix it but had struggled to do so. When Mutt was first appointed, he talked to me about what I thought was happening, but he also had his own views and immediately began work to tighten things up.
“Joe Schmidt took more of a big-picture view and spent a lot of time studying our defensive structures, which were different from what most European teams were using.
“We improved in a lot of areas, although ultimately it wasn’t quite enough to win the 2023 Rugby World Cup.”
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