Ian Foster backs impact players: 'There's no blame at all on the bench'
Despite leading their rematch with the Springboks 20-11 nearing halftime, the All Blacks fell away in the second stanza, conceding 14 unanswered points, and ultimately suffered a 31-29 defeat.
South Africa struggled in the second quarter of the match but a triple substitution in the 38th minute saw front-rowers Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch join the fray and add some real impetus at scrum-time.
The likes of Elton Jantjies and Frans Steyn also helped turn the tide of the game in the second half, with Steyn’s accurate long punts causing more than a few issues for the men in black and Jantjies nailing a long-range drop goal late in the match to put New Zealand under immense pressure with time almost up on the clock.
Those five substitutions were ultimately pivotal in the final result and Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber will be content with the knowledge that his side boasts can finish strongly and win the tight battles when they matter most.
For All Blacks coach Ian Foster, the outcome wasn’t quite so positive.
After last weekend’s narrow victory, Foster switched up his bench for the rematch. Changes included swapping TJ Perenara from the starting lineup to the reserves and elevating Brad Weber into the No 9 jersey, bringing in Asafo Aumau and George Bower as substitute front-rowers and reintroducing Richie Mo’unga to the team after a long absence.
While the Springboks improved following the introduction of their bench, the All Blacks faded.
The NZ reserve front-rowers brought useful energy in the loose but the set-piece suffered. Although the lineout was never operating smoothly, substituting Codie Taylor, Scott Barrett and Luke Jacobson off the park in the second half turned it into a huge weakness, with the All Blacks losing multiple lineouts on both attack and defence.
The scrum, meanwhile, was also folding backwards and it was only through the good work of captain Ardie Savea that the All Blacks weren’t pinged on both offensive and defensive feeds.
The issues were also evident in the backline, with TJ Perenara’s delivery a marked step down from the quickfire passes of Weber while Mo’unga looked very much short of match fitness and struggled to make any impact with ball in hand.
The Springboks have played everyone – the All Blacks included – like fiddles. #RSAvNZL #Springboks #AllBlackshttps://t.co/HTAZjKjfyl
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 3, 2021
The one shining light for the All Blacks was Ethan Blackadder, who’s never-say-die attitude and infinitely fueled engine a handy addition to the side – but it’s curious why it was Jacobson who left the field instead of Akira Ioane, who has struggled to assert himself against the Springboks after being one the All Blacks’ best throughout the season.
Speaking after the match, Foster suggest that the All Blacks did get the impact they wanted from the reserves bench, even if it wasn’t the impact many fans might have been hoping for.
“It was a different sort of impact, different situation they came in,” he said. “I thought we finished the first half in quite a strong position and I think the problem-solving on the park was really, really good.
“The third quarter, we just muddled around a little bit. They tried to come at us through their set-piece and I thought we hung pretty tough in that space but in that last quarter, we perhaps struggled to play with the ball in their half and that was the area that I thought we got a little bit frustrated and didn’t have quite the direction that we needed to, so we’ll go and have a look at that.
“But there’s no blame at all on the bench. It’s a tough old game and the South Africans threw everything at us and probably played their best game in many ways and turned it into one of those traditional games we’ve had over the last three or four years and a lot of them seem to go down to the last few minutes.”
The third quarter of the match was when Foster had earlier identified as the changing of the tide.
“To lose any game at the end when you’ve got control of it is frustrating but [it was a] massive arm wrestle really,” he said.
“I thought the South Africans played superbly. They came with a lot of attitude, they carried hard, they moved us around and really challenged us in many ways, particularly in that third quarter. I thought they had a really strong third quarter and got us a bit flustered but I just like the way we hung in there and we found a way.
“We did some nice things, we took some great opportunities early in the game, scored some nice tries and got ourselves into a winning position but then lacked a little bit of discipline in that last two minutes.”
With the likes of Joe Moody, Ofa Tuungafasi and Mo’unga still short of minutes, and important figures such as Sam Whitelock, Sam Cane and Aaron Smith set to return to action in the coming months, the All Blacks will undoubtedly improve as a unit but for the men in the reserves, they may find their opportunities limited moving forward, such is the depth of the squad.
The selectors will likely employ every player in the team over the coming five matches to round out the year, but whether someone lines up against Italy or France, the USA or Ireland, could come down to how their ledger looked over the past five games – and last night’s loss to the Springboks will certainly play a role in some pla
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments