1
'Don't get over-aroused': Ian Foster's warning to All Blacks rookies ahead of final Bledisloe Cup test
With four players in line to make their test debuts for the All Blacks this weekend, All Blacks coach Ian Foster has been clear with his message to his playing group.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The key thing is not to get over-aroused and go try and feel like you’ve got to be Superman.”
Akira Ioane is the only guaranteed test debutant, starting at blindside flanker in place of Shannon Frizell. Will Jordan, Cullen Grace and Asafo Aumua are all set to play a role off the bench against the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday.
With the All Blacks taking a large squad to Australia for the Tri-Nations which included a host of uncapped players, it seemed inevitable that many of them would return to New Zealand officially as test rugby players.
And as the All Blacks locked away the Bledisloe Cup for the 18th year in a row last weekend, their final clash against the Wallabies has provided the perfect chance for Foster to go deeper into his squad.
“If you look through some of the new names…they’ve just really got to do what they’ve done in order to get here,” Foster said.
“They’ve learnt a lot over the past three or four weeks about how we operate and all we ask of them is to trust that, trust their own skill set and use their intuition that they’ve developed over a number of years to just back themselves in the heat of the moment. That’s all we ask, then we work on bits and pieces after that.
“There’s always little errors that happen with every player, but particularly with new players. But it is exciting to see them come in and get their opportunity, and we have a lot of faith in that whole group.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Foster has chosen to run with a relatively green test side for Saturday’s game, with eight of the match-day 23 having played fewer than 10 tests.
The side will be tasked with backing up from the All Blacks’ biggest-ever win over the Wallabies, with the New Zealand outfit decimating their hosts 43-5 in Sydney last weekend.
Newcastle fullback Kalyn Ponga is free to pursue a spot at the 2023 Rugby World Cup after previously unknown details of his long-term Knights contract were revealed. #RugbyWorldCup #RWC2023 #NRL https://t.co/ilNx0znyf8
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 5, 2020
It’s an unusual situation where they find themselves face the same opposition for a fourth straight match, and Foster said it forced the side to think hard about how to approach such a stretch.
“None of us had really done it before and we looked at a whole lot of things, then we decided to come up with a cunning plan of taking one at a time,” Foster explained.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It’s almost been like, you get out of bed on Monday and think ‘OK, let’s forget who we played before. At the end of this week, there’s an All Blacks-Wallabies game.’
“We’ve tried to keep it that simple – at the end of this week we’re playing the Wallabies. It’s always been a special game for the All Blacks, we know it’s a big occasion and it’s got the added complications or advantages – whichever way you want to look at it – of we both know each other pretty well at the moment and that bring with it some challenges, but it also brings some opportunities.
“We’ve just got to make sure we keep applying the lessons we’ve learnt about them and ourselves and keep growing the game. That’s certainly our expectations for Saturday night. It’s a real focus for this team to try keep lifting its performance. I know it’s tough, but that’s what being an All Black is all about and we have to try to meet those standards.”
Listen to the latest episode of the Aotearoa Rugby Pod below or find it on your preferred streaming service:
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments