'Look at what happened four years ago': All Blacks on losing first game of RWC
For the first time in rugby history, there was not a single team that went undefeated at the Rugby World Cup in 2019, and the All Blacks will be hoping they can replicate that piece of history over the next two months.
The three-time world champions lost the opening match of rugby’s ultimate event on Friday night local time, kicking off a dramatic weekend in France.
It was New Zealand themselves who handed eventual champions South Africa their sole loss at the 2019 tournament, a loss which previously would have been considered damning before the Springboks pioneered a new route to victory.
Before going down to the host nation in Paris, All Blacks head coach Ian Foster threw out a quip that has since taken on a life of its own.
“I’m often asked after 2019 what we’d do differently, I said I’d just throw that first game. It doesn’t sound that good, though, does it?” Foster remarked.
The mere whiff of an All Blacks coach ruminating on the easy route was enough to set some fans off, only exacerbated by the coach’s troublesome tenure with the team.
Those fans can only wait and hope the team was holding tactics back for the knockout stages, while drawing consolation from the fact an imperfect World Cup run has borne fruit before.
It would appear the players also find confidence in the Springboks’ 2019 win.
“You only need to look at what happened four years ago,” Jordie Barrett told reporters in Lyon. “South Africa were world champs and they lost the first game and got a few lessons in that game that put them in great stead for the rest of the tournament and we’re looking to do something similar.
“It’s hot here at the moment and we probably didn’t adapt to those conditions as well as we could have last weekend. We’ve seen teams in the last few days do that as well. Teams without the ball are going a long way to winning some of these test matches, kicking a lot, forcing a lot of mistakes, it’s so hard to hold the ball.
“George Ford (England fly-half) kicked 27 points with 14 men on the park and he was outstanding, and the Welsh made over 200 tackles and an attacking side like Fiji couldn’t cross until the last quarter just because it’s so greasy.
“We found in our game there was only 27 minutes of ball in play which was pretty crazy really. In a match we would like that number to be a bit higher and bring some fatigue into the game and potentially reduce those water breaks, so we can use that to our advantage a little bit more.”
A trademark in the All Blacks’ dominance over the recent decade was a blistering final 20 minutes, where superior fitness in an expansive game sealed tight matches and blew the score out in others.
That dominance fell away over the previous World Cup cycle and a semifinal loss to England cemented the end of that historic era in 2019.
Now, as the weekend’s loss would attest, the final quarter of the game is a vulnerability for New Zealand. France ran home with 18 unanswered points to close the game at Stade de France.
That match did not feature the All Blacks’ youngest Barrett, who was sidelined nursing a knee injury.
“It’s coming along pretty good,” Barrett said on Monday. “A slow 10 or 14 days but it’s on the improve. So, just day-by-day. It’s a funny one really, it’s come on out of nowhere in the past couple of weeks. Just a joint injury and a bit of inflammation but I am getting there and making progress each day.
“I got through today really well which is positive and got through some running. I didn’t do any running last week at all, just been on the watt bike.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments