Almost half of New Zealand’s top-flight rugby union players believe New Zealand Rugby (NZR) had not made the right choice in appointing Ian Foster as the All Blacks coach, according to a survey released on Monday.
Media company NZME conducted the anonymous survey of all five Super Rugby teams on a number of topics about the state of the sport in New Zealand, including whether Foster should have succeeded Steve Hansen to the job last December.
The survey found 46 percent of Super Rugby players felt NZR got the appointment wrong, while 28 percent said the long-term All Blacks assistant coach had been the right choice.
The remaining 26 percent said they were comfortable with Foster but not his choice of assistants in John Plumtree, Scott McLeod, Greg Feek and Brad Mooar.
Foster, who spent eight years as an assistant to Hansen, faced a tough challenge for the role from Crusaders coach Scott Robertson.