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'This is our time': All Blacks 'desperate to perform' after turbulent 18 months
By Ned Lester
The last 18 months have been a wild ride for the All Blacks, record losses have come on either side of an 11-game unbeaten run that includes two Rugby Championship wins, all of which have amalgamated into a spot just outside the World Cup favourites conversation.
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There was a brief, glimmering moment in August when the three-time champions were within reach of their familiar number-one world ranking. That moment was shot down by the Springboks at Twickenham.
Ian Foster has been through it all, a review by New Zealand Rugby almost ended the head coach’s tenure after losing the 2022 Steinlager Series to Ireland, but with the promise of new assistants, Foster was backed to lead the team through to the World Cup.
The newcomers in the coaches’ box were Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan, the pair’s influence quickly became apparent after a short turnaround and a record loss to Argentina in Christchurch.
All the highs and lows of the dramatic year and a half could make for “one of the great stories” if the All Blacks are to go all the way and lift the Webb Ellis Cup in France.
“We feel nothing but support inside the camp,” Foster told The Front Row Daily Show. “We know, if you go back to the middle of last year, losing the series to Ireland, and everything that went on around that, and suddenly we come into a World Cup, that our fan base and a lot of the rugby public are thinking we’re not the favourites.
“That’s created a bit of anxiety, hasn’t it? That anxiety comes out in different ways with media, with fans, with family, with players – and with us.
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“But, I’m incredibly proud about the way that we’ve prepared over the last 12 months. I think there’s been a whole lot of dynamics out there, I think we’ve stayed true to who we are as a team, I think we’ve owned the pitfalls and things that went wrong, and we’re trying hard to work to fix them.
“We are in a good space right now, I think the team’s desperate, we’re desperate to perform, we want to go and beat Uruguay, we want to look forward and we feel like we’ve got the country behind us.
“I’m proud of the players, the way they’re reacting to that. It’s hurt them, they’re trying to respond well, they’re trying to behave the way All Blacks should do.
“Ultimately, we’ve just got to go out and perform and do that with the style that we want to do.”
With one win standing between the team and a quarter-final birth, New Zealand’s upcoming Test with Uruguay will be the final chance to build momentum before the knockout stages commence.
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With the chance to put the drama behind him, Foster says he is loving the tournament.
“I think you’ve got to, I mean this is the World Cup for goodness sake, it’s fantastic, isn’t it?
“This is the big stage and it is where we want to be, and you can put aside anything that’s happened beforehand. We’re here, and for us, for this team, this is our time.”
haha listen to you all !! I can guarantee you this….
Which ever team wins the world cup this year will have a star Polynesian player in it… (sorry SA 😪) Can’t wait to see Tuilaga get ‘welcomed home’ - CHEEEEEHHOOOOO !!
I feel that the AB’s forward pack will not be able to handle Ireland and the Boks, they are definitely missing playing against the SA teams in Super Rugby
Excluding the Uruguay match whom the ABs should comfortably dispatch, then its just 3 games in a row to win. The Darkness can do THIS!
Foster has coached the ABs into mediocrity for FOUR YEARS not 18 months. Before the arrival of Jase Ryan & Jon Schmidt some 12mths ago there was no hope of any RWC success. The fact that we are now there or thereabouts, is purely due to this pair’s recruitment. Unfortunately with the incompetent Foster present, the ABs will continue to be a shakey bet.
Persevering with Cane as skipper has also been detrimental. He’s been absent for about half of the tests played since Foster took over. And left the field injured in several of the tests he started. It’s difficult to mould a team when your onfield leadership model is “now you see me, now you don’t”. Ardie Savea has morphed into the real skipper players gladly follow, regards the team as “my men”, & should be handed the full RWC reins in my opinion. Cane should be left to compete for a spot in the 23.
This is not the ABs time, at best it remains hit & miss, at worse, indifference where noone will be surprised if they fall short in the quarters.
Couldn’t agree more, Pecos. Foster has coached the ABs into mediocrity, and it started before RWC19 - he was the attack coach there, and I’ve never seen an AB’s side attack worse! Then to name Cane as captain before a game was even played was bordering on the absurd! We’ll be playing Ireland in the Quarters - if he puts Cane in as a starter at the expense of some other good forwards, we’ll lose. If Ireland beat the ABs, they’ll do it through their forwards and they’ll go on to win the World Cup - how’s THAT for a prediction?
I think there is a simpler answer to it all. There’s no such thing as a bad All Black’s team but the previous generation (Cater, McCaw, Muliaina, Nonu, Conrad Smith, Reid etc.) was once in a lifetime. They were unplayable from 2011-2016 and probably the best team in professional sport. Any current crop would pale in comparison. They’re still consistently a top 3-4 team at the moment, no more no less.
Foster "We are in a good space right now, I think the team’s desperate, we’re desperate to perform"
What that tells me is that he has instilled a fragile mindset in the team. When the pressure comes on as it will, instead of the AB's of old who would roll with it and push back this team is more likely to make mistakes in desperation.
Yes he will make the same comments as Jones after. and I am an AB supporter
Agree totally. I think that’s the biggest difference. They don’t often look likely now when they go behind in games.
"Space" is Fozzies word of the year. Last year it was learnings. Thankfully there won't be a new word next year. Must admit I switch off when Foz speaks, he is the master of waffle without ever saying anything of substance. He always sounds more like a fan than a coach.
He sounds like Eddie Jones before a game. I wonder if he'll sound like him when he loses too.
If he loses ! So who will they lose to? Obviously you’re a Irish supporter & do you really think they are the better team! Last year they only just won a series but since then the all blacks have changed most of the forward pack & backs. Probably thinking we can just play our forward oriented game to shut them down! Get real this all blacks side is a different beast from last year