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Ian Foster on the 'danger' that the All Blacks avoided
By AAP
With his best poker face on, Ian Foster insisted he was “stoked” with New Zealand’s return Bledisloe Cup performance as his All Blacks side snatched a last-gasp 23-20 win over Australia.
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Richie Mo’unga kept the All Blacks’ long unbeaten home streak intact with a 79th minute penalty in Dunedin, breaking Wallabies hearts again.
The Wallabies led for an hour in Dunedin after a rampaging two-try start, and brought the contest back to 20-20 with seven minutes remaining.
“Clearly we were second best by some distance in that first half,” Foster admitted.
The first-half effort, described by some veteran All Blacks watchers as their worst half in many Tests, also created the dynamic that pleased Foster.
New Zealand hadn’t had a close match in their three Tests this season, and the soon-to-be unemployed coach liked what he saw under pressure.
“To come back and show a lot of composure under that sort of scoreboard pressure, and to squeeze them and to win in the last few minutes, I think it’s a great, great lesson for this team,” he said.
“I’m stoked with the win.
“It’s going to hold us in good stead for later on. We all know it wasn’t perfect but we’ll take it.”
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Viewed in isolation, the half-time scoreline of 17-3 to Australia was a damning indictment of Foster’s decision to rest 12 players for their final home Test.
Effectively, it was the old guard of Aaron Smith, Dane Coles and Mo’unga who came off the bench to save the Test after a patchy showing from second-stringers like Damian McKenzie.
However, Foster said it was necessary to get some rugby into squad players’ bodies ahead of the World Cup beginning next month.
“I know we made a lot of changes, more than we’ve had for a long time,” he said.
“If we didn’t do this game the way we did it, the danger was is that we’d have a number of players and then a World Cup squad that wouldn’t have played a serious Test match for eight to nine weeks.
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“So we knew what we’re doing. And yeah, it was a bit nervous at half-time.
“But wow, the upside of it is we came through it … that’s a good sign too.”
Two injuries also have the potential to give Foster headaches ahead of his World Cup squad naming on Monday.
Brodie Retallick and Braydon Ennor both limped out of the contest with knee injuries.
Foster did not elaborate on their severity beyond saying Braydon was “a bit sorer”
The always dour coach, who will be replaced by Scott Robertson after the World Cup, said the Test didn’t change his opinion on the 33-man squad he will unveil in Napier.
he was releaved like the rest of the country when the austrailian goal kicker missed and quade made a mistake
Also agree on fozzy, for all the s*** he has been copping he'sdefinitely handled it with a bit of class
Good to see the debutantes getting good run in, still not sold on dmac as a test player, definitely would like to see a bit more of Roigard too.
Agreed. Why on earth Christie even makes the squad is beyond me. Surely Roigard should have started this match with nuggy coming in to shore things up later in the match. Dmac got to go 💩
Agree with fozzy well done ABs wish the media would get off Fozzy's back, but it goes with the job I guess. If he leads the team to a 4th RWC he will go out incredible style. I have to eat some of my words about him so far this year. Good on you mate, glad I have to.
Completely agree with you. Always handles himself well. Very respectful of his opposition aswell. I’m From Scotland but I’ve watched a lot of NZ rugby for the past 10 years. And I think this team this year, is playing some of the best rugby I’ve seen since post 2017 probably . 4 wins from 4, with a very good and much improved second half display. Thought the second half was good, to win under extreme scoreboard pressure with wholesale changes was good for the squad. Ok there were a few who I thought were just plain and simply poor likes of Christie and Laulala etc who haven’t done themselves any favours, but I think that might actually have pleased Fozzy, Schmidt and Ryan more than the other three more dominant wins. One year ago, the All Blacks most likely would have lost that match. Now they’re winning again, even when poor. Unfortunately some of youre media and some of youre fan base don’t accept that at times, I will use some negative comments I saw online regarding Shawn Stevenson at half time. His first full test match, his first full 80 in nearly two months, in a almost fully changed back line, he’d also have some nerves yet he didn’t come out the gates like a world rugby player of the year so he’s criticised. Guys like Hamish Bidwell on this page have wrote some disgusting stuff time and time again about Fozzy. The players wanted him to stay, so he decided to stay. After all the shit was spoke about him from media, fans, Northern Hemisphere media, even NZR themselves, he knew he needed to be ruthless as Plumtree and Moar were clearly not up to the levels required to get the All Blacks playing elite level rugby. Not saying Plumtree and Moar don’t have much to offer as coaches, just not in the same league as Ryan and Schmidt. I just get a feeling that Foster may be walking away with a very full trophy cabinet when his times up, and I won’t be surprised if he adds another one yet, the one everyone wants. I think he’d give Mark Robinson a little sarcastic wink if he does do that.
How much do you think is Foster and how much Ryan and Schmidt? Certainly Ryan has had an enormous impact on the pack.