Ian Foster on the 'danger' that the All Blacks avoided
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.
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."
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.
"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.
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Brumbies are looking good and if they keep their home form up a final is not beyond the realms of possibility. They showed against the Hurricanes exactly how clinical they can be as they absorbed pressure in that contest while also scoring points and applying their own pressure. Reds are well placed as well but need to find consistency. They are building a longer term project with a young side and plenty of quality players. Been surprising to see the strength of Aussie sides this year after the debacle of the world cup. Have NZ sides gotten weaker? Have Aussie sides gotten stronger? A bit of both I would say. Whatever the case its good to see some actual competition between NZ and Aus sides again and thats exactly what the fans wanted and is probably driving better viewership numbers. All of this can only be healthy for Aus and Super Rugby and I hope the Brumbies go all the way.
Go to commentsDead time reductions are important as is ball in play time increases. Premiership leads the way in terms of ball in play and Northern refereeing standards around the breakdown has sped up the game significantly. Super Rugby is trying new things but its not leading the way in terms of making gains in reducing dead time and ball in play time. Northern administrators are also not against speeding up the game, on the contrary they want a faster game and have been trying things and are embracing increasing the speed of rugby. Super Rugby isnt providing a blueprint for anything, its just part the agreed upon blueprint that administrators across the world are moving to.
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