Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Imagine being Ian Foster right now. Worse than being the most hated politician, is being an under fire AB’s coach surely. We seem to be more aggressively passionate about rugby in this country than anything else. Not even the way the country is run, apparently compares to how the AB’s perform, in our eyes. So why are we so harsh? Why are we so invested in how a sports team performs? Is it because for so long our identity as a nation was wrapped up in having a strong rugby team? Did we idolise them and put them on a platform so early on that they became too high on the pedestal. You know how the saying goes – the higher up you are, the further you have to fall. It’s who gets the bulk of the blame I’m interested in though. Everything seems to be falling squarely on the coach’s shoulders. NZRU management and culture took a bit of heat for a while there with a spotlight on how things are being run top down. Players always take a bit of heat if they’ve committed some egregious sin like not kicking or passing the b