Ian Foster backed to coach New Zealand through 2023 Rugby World Cup

New Zealand Rugby has confirmed that Ian Foster will remain the coach of the All Blacks through to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

The decision follows after an internal review conducted by the New Zealand board following the team's recent performances.

Foster took over as the All Blacks coach post 2019 Rugby World Cup succeeding Steve Hansen after previously being the assistant coach between 2012 and 2019.

"The board have unanimously agreed they have absolute confidence that Ian and this coaching group are the right people to lead the All Blacks through to the World Cup," Mitchell said.

"This has been privately and publicly validated by our players and in various conversations within our high performance team."

His position as head coach went under scrutiny after New Zealand suffered streak of defeats. They had loses against Ireland and France during the end of the year and it followed with a home series defeat against Ireland at home.

New Zealand also started the Rugby Championship campaign with a defeat against South Africa in the opening round before bouncing back with a 25-35 win in Johannesburg in the second game of the competition.

"It's clearly been a difficult time," said Foster.

"But I believe in the plan I've got. I believe we've got great support behind us. Now we want to set our sails and get stuck into work."

New Zealand will be locking horns with Argentina in the third round of the Rugby Championship on 27th August.