Alex Chapman: What to know about new All Blacks coach Ian Foster

He's been involved with the All Blacks since 2012 but here are 10 things you might not know about new All Blacks head coach Ian Foster.
1) Foster was part of three Ranfurly Shield tenures and won an NPC title as a player with Waikato in a career spanning 14 years. He played 148 games for the province, a record, finishing his career in 1998. He also played 28 games for the Chiefs.
"My ambition was to finish with legs intact so I could have quality time with my family. I wanted to leave the game while I was still loving it," he told the Herald in 2002.

Ian Foster in action for Waikato during the 1993 NPC season. Photosport
2) During his playing career for Waikato he also worked for TVNZ in marketing and sales.
3) His father was a barber in Putaruru before becoming a Presbyterian minister when Foster was aged five which saw the family move to Dunedin.
4) Referee Glen Jackson was his first five-eighth understudy at Waikato.
5) His wife is Leigh and they have three adult children - Mark 26, Michaela 20, and Jaime 18. Foster said of his family in an interview with Newstalk ZB's Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford last month that being away from his family has been difficult: "That side of it's tough when you have a young family. It's not only the time away but there's the energy you put into it when you are at home. There's also the things they hear about their old man through their mates or in the public, that takes its toll. We have a lot of conversations about personal identity, about who you are and how you're not defined by what other people say you are."
6) One of four players in the 1993 Waikato side that won the Ranfurly Shield off Auckland, ending their eight-year tenure, that went onto high profile coaching jobs - Warren Gatland, John Mitchell and Kevin Putt.

Ian Foster holds up the Ranfurly Shield aloft in 1997. Photosport
7) Rates Whangamata as his favourite spot in New Zealand.
8) Coached the Chiefs in more than 100 Super Rugby matches from 2004 to 2011, taking the team to the semifinals in his first year and the final in 2009.
9) He was co-coach of the Junior All Blacks from 2005 to 2007, during which time the team won a two-test series against Australia A, the inaugural IRB Pacific Five Nations tournament and the expanded Pacific Nations Cup. He also co-coached an All Blacks trial team in 2005.
10) Was named All Blacks assistant in 2011 joining head coach Steve Hansen. During his time with Hansen, the All Blacks won 93 of 108 tests losing just 10 tests.
"This is a great honour to work with the All Blacks," Foster said at the time. "I'm thankful for the faith that Steve Hansen and the board have shown in me," he said.

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