All Blacks coach Ian Foster believes the selection of overseas-based players to represent the three-time world champions in future would be disastrous for New Zealand rugby.
Foster will be succeeded post-World Cup this year by Crusaders boss Scott Robertson, who has told media that he will open to picking Kiwis playing abroad for the All Blacks – which is currently taboo under New Zealand Rugby regulations.
World Player of the Year winners Brodie Retallick and Beauden Barrett, along with fellow World Cup winner Aaron Smith, Ardie Savea, Richie Mo’unga and Shannon Frizell, have all signed to play for Japanese clubs in 2024.
“I think from an All Blacks’ perspective, if I just looked at it purely selfishly … it makes some academic sense,” Foster told Newstalk ZB. “But I think from a New Zealand rugby [perspective] … as a whole, I think it’d be a disaster.
“We’ve got a Super Rugby competition which has fed our national team for many many years. I don’t think the Super Rugby competition is perfect at the moment, it needs a bit of work, but it is the development path.
“It’s where we actually develop our players, where we’re able to work with the franchises in that space, and I think we need to make sure we’re selling that product to the public and we’re growing our young players with our older players around them.
“The minute we open up the door, we know the worldwide demand for our players is huge and I think we’ll lose a lot of our top players and I think that’ll dilute our domestic competition too much.
“They need to stay here and play here.”
Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images