'Needed to be more three-dimensional': Foster confident All Blacks can live with 14 players in future

Ireland gained ascendency early in the second test by breaking the All Blacks line inside the first two minutes, which led to another opening period which was dominated by the visitors.

Much like Eden Park, Ireland stormed out of the blocks to score the first try as the All Blacks struggled to get a grip on territory. Ireland’s control of the game was managed well by their kicking and ball-in-hand play.

Foster attributed Ireland’s first half dominance to a rather predictable attack that didn’t turn around the opposition enough when they had the opportunity, while being down a man didn’t help.

Aotearoa Rugby Pod | Episode 20

Aotearoa Rugby Pod | Episode 20

“I thought we struggled to get the real territory that we needed and probably played too much rugby in our own half,” Foster said.

“They flattered up their D-line and we perhaps needed to be more three-dimensional with our attack, I think, and turn them around a little bit.

“But that’s what happens when you drop down a man and you’re trying to force the game.

“We got some good reward when we did get good field position but we probably just needed a bit more.”

The All Blacks had few attacking opportunities in the Irish 22 metre zone as they laboured to get out of their own half, with just 22 per cent territory in the first 40 minutes.

Foster credited the defence of Ireland which used the man advantage to put the All Blacks skills under pressure which led to players forcing the pass and creating turnovers.

“Certainly, it’s easier to defend when you’ve got 15 versus 14 and they did that really well and they pressured our skillset,” he said.

“That’s what test matches are about. We were a bit off in terms of dealing with that.

“I think it’ll be a bit of a eye-opener, particularly for a few newer players to feel that sort of tension and pressure, and trying to force things when we were one man down ain’t easy against a quality team.”

Foster was upbeat after being only down 10-7 at the half where they had weathered a very strong period of Irish attack.

At one point down to 13 men with uncontested scrums, the All Blacks managed to repel Ireland and force James Lowe to drop a crucial pass out wide that could have proved costly.

However, the early try by Ireland in the second half extended the lead to two scores again and made the comeback that much harder with a half of rugby to play with just 14 men.

“I thought it was a great return. For a team under pressure, like Sam says, we lifted again – and we needed to,” he said.

“Hats off to Ireland, they scored that early try in that second half and that just made a gap and all of a sudden it’s 15 and it’s hard to catch up.

“We’ve just to got to be better than that. You get test matches where things happen, you don’t get the rub of the green.

“First lineout, the TMO was telling the ref that Ireland should have been penalised; he didn’t hear them and they went down to score down the other end. You get the rub of the green with things like that but we were out own worst enemy in that second half.”

A late try to Will Jordan gave the All Blacks some hope with just three minutes remaining but the task remained insurmountable as Ireland closed out the game by holding on to possession.

Foster was confident that his side can live with being a player down in the future but would have to improve their handling which let them down.

“We’ve got to be better. We can still live with 14 and we’ve just got to trust ourselves and trust what we do and we’ve just got to go back and back our own skill level and that’s something we’re going to go away and work hard on.”

“We’ll go back through the same processes in many ways but the evidence will be pretty simple – we didn’t turn up with the same intensity that we did seven days ago and the fact is that we showed character, we showed we’ve got it, we’ve just got to do it for 80 minutes against a quality team.”