Ian Foster has waded back into the spotlight with a blunt verdict on the Rugby World Cup final — and it’s fair to say Springboks supporters won’t be sending him a Christmas card. The former All Blacks head coach branded the time it took to complete the 2023 decider in Paris as “unacceptable,” reigniting a debate that has rattled the corridors of World Rugby ever since that bruising 12-11 defeat to South Africa last October.
Rugby World Cup Final Length Slammed by Newly Appointed Foster
Foster’s remarks landed the same week he was officially unveiled as the new head coach at Toyota Verblitz in Japan, alongside high-profile NRL recruit Joey Manu. While ball-in-play time in the final actually ran around three and a half minutes longer than the tournament average — itself a figure that dropped by just three seconds from 2019 — the match still took 19 more minutes to complete than the equivalent fixture four years earlier. Foster wasn’t having it.
“The time that the final took is unacceptable,” he told New Zealand publication The Post. “Coaches have to take ownership of that and players have to take ownership of that too. We can’t allow players to get to the point that they feel they can slow the game down deliberately, because it was happening too much at the World Cup.”
World Rugby has already signalled its intent to act, proposing limits on scrum resets and a series of closed law trials. These include tighter application of shot and scrum clocks, a single “use it” call on rolling mauls rather than two, and a play-on ruling when an uncontested crooked lineout occurs. Progress, then — but the debate is far from finished. For more on where the World Cup circus heads next, check out our Rugby World Cup 2027 host cities breakdown.
Lawes Hits Back at Bulls and Champions Cup Drama Explodes
Meanwhile, in Europe, the Champions Cup reached its semifinal stage — Leinster, Northampton Saints, Toulouse and Harlequins the last four standing. Northampton’s route there was straightforward enough on paper: a 59-22 demolition of a heavily weakened Bulls outfit. Bulls head coach Jake White pointed the finger at South African rugby’s governing body, claiming a gruelling travel schedule forced him to rest key players ahead of a United Rugby Championship clash with Munster.
Saints captain and veteran England lock Courtney Lawes was having precisely none of it. “My take was it’s a very South African thing to do that whole carnival around it, putting it out in the press about the eight different flights, this and that,” Lawes told The Rugby Pod. “I guarantee you that a lot of things there were at least exaggerated. It was a great way of taking the pressure off themselves.” Lawes added he was genuinely disappointed not to face a full-strength Bulls side — a sentiment plenty of neutral supporters shared.
Crusaders Drama, Force Signings and Black Ferns Call for Super Rugby Merger
Elsewhere in Super Rugby Pacific, the Crusaders find themselves second from bottom ahead of Round 9 — a sentence that would have seemed absurd even two seasons ago. Their solitary win this campaign arguably should have been two, after Christian Lio-Willie dotted down in the 79th minute against the Waratahs, only for a chaotic finish to unfold. Replacement fly-half Rivez Reihana converted, referee Nic Berry confirmed a restart was required despite the television clock showing time expired, and then came the carnage — a fumbled restart, Johnny McNicholl sin-binned for a deliberate knockdown, and Will Harrison converting the resulting penalty to force golden point before a botched lineout handed Harrison a drop-goal opportunity he gratefully accepted. Crusaders assistant Tamaiti Ellison confirmed Berry’s call was correct given when the try had been awarded, while hooker Brodie McAlister fell on his sword over the lineout. “You’ve got to learn from it,” he said simply.
On the recruitment front, the Western Force continue to build purposefully. Just a week after announcing Brandon Paenga-Amosa’s return home, the club confirmed the signing of hooker Nic Dolly. Sydney-born Dolly earned a single England cap against South Africa under Eddie Jones, but becomes eligible for Australia again in November. He has spent seven years in England, the last three at Leicester Tigers, and is clearly relishing the move. “The Force approached me and made me feel wanted which was a huge attraction,” he said.
Finally, Black Ferns and Blues captain Ruahei Demant used her side’s dramatic Super Rugby Aupiki final victory — the Blues overturning an 18-5 deficit with 15 minutes left to beat Chiefs Manawa 21-18 and claim the title in just the competition’s third year — to publicly call for a merger with Australia’s Super W competition. With Aupiki fielding just four teams and Super W boasting six, the logic of a combined competition mirroring Super Rugby Pacific is hard to argue against. “Opening the competition up to play the Super W teams would also allow Australia to get better and we need Aussie to be better internationally,” Demant said. Hard to disagree with that.