Ian Foster pinpoints who must be held 'accountable' for All Blacks loss
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster says his backline players must be held to account for their poor decision-making which contributed to his side’s loss to Ireland over the weekend.
The All Blacks fell to their third defeat to the Irish in five years as they lost 29-20 in stunning fashion in front of a boisterous Aviva Stadium crowd in Dublin.
Throughout the course of the match, the All Blacks struggled for ascendency as Ireland controlled possession and territory for most of the encounter.
Much of Ireland’s success seemingly stemmed from their dominance in physicality and in the collision zone, but Foster moved to defend his forward pack while speaking to media upon his arrival in Paris on Monday [NZT] ahead of this week’s test against France.
While he acknowledged his big men were outplayed by their Irish counterparts, Foster said his backs need to shoulder some of the blame for their defeat as he believes they didn’t allow the forwards to perform to the best of their ability.
The All Blacks boss highlighted his players’ decision to boot possession away as a sticking point from their second defeat of 2021 after being guilty of the same indiscretion against the Springboks in Townsville earlier this year.
“I think our pack’s gone pretty well through the year. Overall, I’ve been reasonably satisfied to date,” Foster said.
“Certainly, we got put on the back foot a little bit last night, but parts of our forward play, I thought, was really good.
“But, consistently over 80 minutes, we’ve got to get stronger, and, also, we’ve got to make sure that we’re giving our forwards a chance to impose themselves on the opposition a bit better.
“I thought we turned over a lot of ball in the backs within one-to-two phases again, and that’s something that actually hurt us in the first test against South Africa, even though we won it.
“We got into a similar problem [against Ireland], and that came back to bite us a little bit, so it’s really a matter of backs being accountable for the decisions they make and retaining the ball to give our forwards a chance to impose themselves, and that’s going to be a big part of the solution.”
In spite of that, Foster deemed a tactical overhaul as unnecessary for Sunday’s [NZT] season-ending clash against Les Bleus at the Stade de France, where a defeat would condemn the All Blacks to their worst test campaign since 2009.
There are going to have to be some selection change-ups this weekend when a reeling All Blacks side takes on France. #AllBlacks #IREvNZL #FRAvNZLhttps://t.co/3B9sEmTMdj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 15, 2021
However, he made note that his side tried to overplay their hand too early against the Irish and indicated that the Kiwis must earn the right to play expansively against a French team whose defence is masterminded by English guru Shaun Edwards.
“Our defence has been a considerable contributor to our performance through this year, and I think we are seeing a lot of growth through that space,” he said.
“But, I think when you’re playing a team that you’re asked to make a lot of tackles, and then when you do get the ball, you’ve got to build the right to try and put them under pressure and I think we were a little bit keen on making things happen too quickly.
“When we turned it over, that put us straight into a defensive mode, so we probably needed to build some periods of time in that game that we could actually start putting them under more pressure than we actually did.
“When we did do that, it was actually looking okay, but we didn’t do enough of it.”
Any adjustments to the All Blacks’ game plan will be made over the coming days as New Zealand’s coaching staff conduct a review into what went wrong in the Irish capital.
Don’t expect France to replicate Ireland in the way in which they go about trying to beat the All Blacks in Paris this weekend. #AllBlacks #FRAvNZL #AutumnNationsSeries https://t.co/9cBQcMI0iP
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 14, 2021
That review is scheduled to take place overnight, but Foster has already hinted that changes are required if the All Blacks are to breach the advantage line with ball in hand, something they routinely failed to do against Ireland.
With that in mind, Anton Lienert-Brown’s partially dislocated shoulder, which has ruled him out of the France test, could force the inclusion of youngster Quinn Tupaea in the Kiwi midfield given his powerful ball-carrying ability.
“We’ll come up with a plan. There’s some things we’re going to have to do against France and you’ve got to make sure we make a lot of gain line in the game of rugby nowadays,” Foster said.
“We didn’t get enough last week to operate off in an effective way, so we’ve got to find ways through that.
“That’s not just an attitudinal thing, that’s a tactical and skill-based thing as well, so that’s stuff that’s we’ve got to build our plan and process this week and figure out where the best part of the field is to get that, where we see opportunities, versus France, and they’ll be different to Ireland.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Aha. An Irishman with logic!
85 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
29 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
226 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
226 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
19 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
19 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to comments