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'It put me to sleep': Ian Foster on Lions-Springboks second test

By Ben Smith
Jordie Barrett of the All Blacks celebrates with head coach Ian Foster after winning the 2020 Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks at ANZ Stadium on October 31, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The rugby world is watching a high-stakes series of test rugby play out over in South Africa that, according to All Blacks head coach Ian Foster, has descended into low-risk rugby where teams “are afraid” to play.

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Speaking to the media ahead of the first Bledisloe Cup test against the Wallabies, Foster admitted he had watched the second test of the series between the Lions and Springboks, but joked dryly that it put him to sleep watching it.

“I watched it between 10pm and 1am last night, it put me to sleep,” Foster said.

The All Blacks coach spoke of the last two Lions series becoming very tight affairs, while this current one has become a “slugfest” as both teams employ similar tactics in search of a series win.

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“The Lions series, the one we had here, the one over there, it’s become very tight, almost risk-free type of series, aren’t they? Teams are almost afraid to play, they are just relying on a low-risk strategy,” he said.

“So we are seeing two teams who desperately want to win a big series playing low-risk, highly-effective rugby.

“Both of them are good at the close contact stuff, the close quarter fighting, the kick and chase, and the pressure game. Two teams playing a similar style, it’s a bit of a slugfest.”

Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has stolen the show during the series with his off-field antics on social media and as the team’s water boy, but Foster insists that is not the way the All Blacks will go about their business.

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“Well I think I might run water on Saturday,” Foster joked, “Looks like quite an effective strategy.

“Look, he is who he is, they’ve got their strategies about how they go about things, it’s certainly not ours.”

Probed again on the style of rugby that seems to be pervasive in the Lions tests, Foster said that the two teams don’t like playing against line speed, and the obvious answer then is to kick repeatedly.

Foster added the risk-reward equation has been skewed in that direction due to the type of defence being employed.

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“That’s test match rugby where stakes are high, it’s the whole risk versus reward, isn’t it?” he asked.

“You’ve got two teams over there, who want to get up, their line speed is really strong. It’s all about stopping.

“We’ve been criticised in the past for not being able to play around and through line speed, but what you are seeing is two teams that don’t like playing against line speed either.

“So what do they do? They kick. That’s the answer if you are not willing to play a slightly more risky game. Everyone will choose a different way.”

After coming under fire in the wake of the first test, Foster threw his support behind the referees, saying that there is “no doubt” the teams have to support the men in the middle.

He said that coaches have to do the right thing and make sure they are supporting the game without making it “impossible” to referee.

“We’ve got to support the referees, there’s no doubt about it. We can have our gripes behind the scenes and that’s alright, we’ve felt like that at times, we felt a bit like that last year, but we know the guys out in the middle are trying to do the best they can and it’s a tough job.

“We have just got to make sure that we support the game and do the right thing.

“The media and people want us to express views, so it’s getting that balance between how much do you say and what you’re really thinking versus how much do we make sure we are not making it an impossible game to referee.”

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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