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All Blacks boss Foster directly addresses NZ public after latest flop
By Kim Ekin
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has addressed the New Zealand public after this side’s latest shock loss – this time at the hands of Argentina.
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Los Pumas won in New Zealand for the first time in their history to stun the All Blacks with Michael Cheika’s side clinching a 25-18 victory in the Rugby Championship in Christchurch.
Winger Emiliano Boffelli kicked five penalties to keep the tourists in touch with Samisoni Taukei’aho and Caleb Clarke scoring first-half tries for New Zealand.
Flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez went over for Argentina in the second half with Boffelli, who kicked 20 points, converting.
The hosts played the final nine minutes with 14 men after Shannon Frizell was shown a yellow card.
The defeat keeps the pressure on All Blacks boss Foster with his side having lost six of their last eight Tests.
“For us, there’s a shed-full of people that are hurting right now, including me,” Foster said. “We don’t like losing and we understand our country doesn’t like us losing. I guess we’re all in the same boat in that place – it does hurt.
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“As I’ve said over the last few weeks, we are a team that’s rebuilding and sometimes confidence doesn’t come at the speed that we want it to.”
“I was a bit surprised with us in the last quarter, to be honest… we didn’t execute in some big moments at the end,” Foster said.
“I guess it’s that little bit of belief about how to play your way out of tough situations and, I guess, how to problem-solve.
“In South Africa we saw a little bit of that start to creep into our game, which is positive, we started to problem-solve certain situations.
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“Today we probably got stuck in one mode. There are a lot of really good teams that are going to try to slow us down and suffocate us. It’s how we break through that.”
Foster admitted his players didn’t deal well with conceding an early try to Los Pumas.
“We conceded that try at the kick-off, a bit fortunate, and after that, they grew an arm and a leg, and we probably got perhaps a little bit flustered,” he said.
“So we’ve got to look at our composure in the latter stages, particularly with the bench coming on, and we’ve just got to make sure we’re a little bit more ruthless at the breakdown.
“Congratulations to Argentina, they kept true to how they wanted to play, they really frustrated us,” he added.
“We didn’t get what we wanted at the breakdown. We had large periods of dominance in our set-piece but that didn’t go well at the end.
“But overall they got away with some stuff at the breakdown and we weren’t able to deal with it.”
additional reporting PA
This whole Foster situation is now beyond a joke. The man is obviously so pigheaded that he can't see the wood for the trees. Mr Foster, please do the right thing and resign. This is NOT about your reputation, it's about the jersey, the brand, the All Black legacy. You've been given multiple opportunities but it's still not working. The win last against a very average SA team was not your saving grace. FOR THE SAKE OF THE TEAM, THE COUNTRY, PLEASE RESIGN, NOW!!!!!!
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain,
BUT I WONT RESIGN! fozzy...
And then depression set in. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Well done Argentina full respect. sad days for my beloved team this is now rivalling 1998. Perhaps worse.