Family values taught All Blacks coach Foster to keep the faith
Ian Foster grew up with faith "an important part of our family" and the New Zealand head coach has had to draw on deep reserves of that with his job at one point in doubt.
Now the 58-year-old is set to lead the All Blacks into Saturday's World Cup final against South Africa.
Foster's late father Jack made quite a journey from being a hairdresser to a Presbyterian minister and his strong faith was imbued into the rest of the family.
Foster has required that faith, battling through a tough four years since he replaced two-time World Cup winner Steve Hansen, for whom he was assistant coach from 2012 to 2019.
The nadir was last year when he oversaw the first home series defeat in almost three decades after Ireland came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 in July. A win over South Africa in August eased the pressure but the jitters returned when Argentina beat them in Christchurch.
Both those defeats have been avenged in this World Cup – beating the Irish 28-24 in an engrossing quarterfinal and then whipping the Pumas 44-6 in a one-sided semifinal.
All that remains is to beat fellow three-time champions South Africa in the final and avenge the 35-7 thrashing by the Springboks in their final warm-up match in August, the All Blacks' heaviest ever defeat.
Foster rarely reveals much about himself but in 2021 he talked about how faith plays a large part in his family's life.
"I think ... that faith was an important part of our family, still is," he told stuff.co.nz.
"But it's the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, you know, the number of times that we had people staying in our house who needed help, or Mum and Dad were working with people and gave their time, just for other people."
- Players' delegation -
Foster said he learned a valuable
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