Ian Foster responds after swipe at All Blacks' aura by Jamie Joseph
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has hit back at Jamie Joseph’s claim that teams no longer fear the All Blacks, following Japan’s valiant performance on Saturday.
Japan’s famous victory over the Springboks at the 2015 Rugby World Cup will go down in history as one of the most stunning results in the sports history, but they want more.
After wins over Scotland and Ireland at the most recent World Cup, the Brave Blossoms have established themselves as a team who are capable of the incredible.
In just their fifth ever meeting in an official Test match against the All Blacks, Japan were ranked outsiders ahead of their clash in Tokyo.
The hosts scored four tries, and played with a man up after Brodie Retallick was sent off, and trailed by just four with a minute to play.
While they went on to lose 31-38, coach Jamie Joseph took a swipe at the All Blacks’ “armour” which he suggested may not be as protective in the modern game.
“Everyone is thinking about the All Blacks, and that’s part of their armour, really,” Joseph said.
“Having played for the All Blacks, one of the things we used to talk about 25 years ago was that everyone was a wee bit scared of us.
“Perhaps that’s not the case anymore, I’m not sure.
“We shut their lineout down, shut their maul down, but it still wasn’t enough and that sort of tells you how good the All Blacks are as a team.
“They key for us really is to go to England now and replicate that performance against a better team.”
The All Blacks were far from their clinical best, but some impressive performances from the likes of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Hoskins Sotutu are exciting going forward.
But in response to Joseph’s comment, coach Foster described it as a “nicely mischievous” thing for him to say after the close result.
“He’s obviously very happy with a close loss and he should be proud of his team’s effort, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Foster said.
“I’ve been around a lot of All Black teams where our first game as a group after a spell we’ve struggled.
“But there were certainly some parts that weren’t up to our standards, we scored 38 points with five nice tries, but if you look at your performance, particularly our lineout, it really didn’t function particularly well.
“We left a lot of opportunities there and probably our transition defence, where we just looked slow to move and not really connected, a couple of pretty critical areas I don’t think we were up to par.
“But it was also a pretty good Japan team we played against and in particular, that transition defence is an area of strength for them.
“They fed off the scraps and did it very well, we knew that it was coming and we weren’t quite quick enough but a good building block going forward.”
New Zealand, who are currently ranked fourth in the world, now head to Europe where they have three more games to play in 2022.
Next up for the All Blacks is Wales, before games against Scotland and England.
Comments on RugbyPass
Bar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
35 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
35 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
35 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
35 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
35 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
35 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
35 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
18 Go to comments