Patrick McKendry: Unwanted and unloved, Foster is on track for underdog triumph

The Kiwi public love an underdog and a story about upsetting the odds. It wouldn’t get much better than this.

UNDERDOG: New Zealand's head coach Ian Foster leaves after a media briefing in Rueil-Malmaison, France. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The New Zealand public can react explosively to All Blacks coaches who fail to win World Cups.

But should his side fall to the Springboks at the Stade de France on Saturday night, Ian Foster is unlikely to be treated like John Hart was in 1999 after the All Blacks lost their semi-final to France at Twickenham, or how the now Sir Steve Hansen and Sir Graham Henry were in 2007 when they lost the quarter-final to the same opposition in Cardiff.