'That gets us into trouble': Foster explains how the All Blacks will combat rush defence
Ian Foster has shared his philosophy on World Cup team building and how he plans to overcome the current modern day rush defence schemes that have been so successful against the All Blacks recently.
Speaking on The All Blacks Podcast, the head coach said that line speed at the international level has been getting ‘quicker and quicker’ over the last few years and it has become a talking point whenever the All Blacks lose.
The All Blacks attack has been blunted at times by aggressive defence employed by the likes of Los Pumas, Ireland, France and the Springboks over the last two seasons.
“We are working hard on it,” Foster answered when asked what the plan is to combat aggressive rush defence.
“Every time we lose, it [rush defence] gets chucked up.
“There is no doubt that the rush defence, the line speed, it’s getting quicker and quicker all the time.
“It’s really uncomfortable to play against and no one likes it.”
Foster explained that the All Blacks natural inclination of wanting to play with the ball has worked against them at times as they do not want to resort to a ‘kick and defend’ game plan to keep turning the opposition around.
“You can use a Northern Hemisphere equation of playing against it by saying ‘okay let’s just kick everything’, in other words, let’s not play against it. Keep turning them around, keep turning them around,” he said.
“Whereas, our DNA has always been ‘we want to play, give us the ball’ we want to be better than that and try to look for things.
“Now that gets us into trouble, we’ve all seen that.
“The last five or six years we’ve been working hard on getting the balance of getting our kicking game, our running game.”
“We’ve probably become a wider passing team, we like the big passes and creating space. Whereas against line speed you get smacked.”
The All Blacks head coach said that some instinctual habits formed in Super Rugby by All Black players has not translated to success at the international level so one of the solutions they are working on is ‘breaking habits’.
While on a micro skill level, adjustments to the passing and kicking game are being considered as tactical changes to get the attack firing against strong defensive teams.
“Some of our instincts that come out of Super Rugby, they then come into the international stage against those sort of teams and suddenly they don’t quite work,” he said.
“We’re breaking some habits. We got to learn some new habits there, which we’ve been working on. We are going to work hard on the length of our pass and how we kick against some of these teams.
“So there’s a couple of cues.”
With 18 tests remaining until the next World Cup, the All Blacks are pressed for time to figure out those answers after two Covid-impacted seasons threw the normal World Cup planning cycle out the window.
Foster explained that they have had to change how they build the squad for the 2023 event, flipping the normal process around, but reiterated that the side was ‘in a great spot’ after the challenging two year period.
He detailed his strategy for managing the squad in the 2022 season in which he aims to give the All Black team consistency in order for combinations to flourish.
“We’ve had the first two years of the World Cup Cycle, generally you are trying to establish your game, get everything smooth,” Foster told The All Blacks Podcast.
“Often the third year is about building some depth, and the fourth year is about just going out and doing it.
“We’ve had to flip that over, because the first year we only had six tests, last year we had 15 but we were away from home for 13. We had 40 players because of Covid-quarantine and all that sort of stuff.
“We went to a depth strategy last year and we were kind of forced to, so that put us in a unique position. So this year, really, we are going to narrow the squad down a little bit. It won’t be 40, I think we are going to name 36.
“It is really about building the combinations and getting consistency in selection this year.
“That’s kind of our flow. It’s a little bit different to previous World Cups, but based on what we’ve had the last two years we are in a great spot now.
“We’ve got quite a big group of All Blacks now that they’ve had a taste of it, so now we are narrowing it down.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to comments