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Ian Foster pinpoints who must be held 'accountable' for All Blacks loss
By Alex McLeod
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster says his backline players must be held to account for their poor decision-making which contributed to his side’s loss to Ireland over the weekend.
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The All Blacks fell to their third defeat to the Irish in five years as they lost 29-20 in stunning fashion in front of a boisterous Aviva Stadium crowd in Dublin.
Throughout the course of the match, the All Blacks struggled for ascendency as Ireland controlled possession and territory for most of the encounter.
Much of Ireland’s success seemingly stemmed from their dominance in physicality and in the collision zone, but Foster moved to defend his forward pack while speaking to media upon his arrival in Paris on Monday [NZT] ahead of this week’s test against France.
While he acknowledged his big men were outplayed by their Irish counterparts, Foster said his backs need to shoulder some of the blame for their defeat as he believes they didn’t allow the forwards to perform to the best of their ability.
The All Blacks boss highlighted his players’ decision to boot possession away as a sticking point from their second defeat of 2021 after being guilty of the same indiscretion against the Springboks in Townsville earlier this year.
“I think our pack’s gone pretty well through the year. Overall, I’ve been reasonably satisfied to date,” Foster said.
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“Certainly, we got put on the back foot a little bit last night, but parts of our forward play, I thought, was really good.
“But, consistently over 80 minutes, we’ve got to get stronger, and, also, we’ve got to make sure that we’re giving our forwards a chance to impose themselves on the opposition a bit better.
“I thought we turned over a lot of ball in the backs within one-to-two phases again, and that’s something that actually hurt us in the first test against South Africa, even though we won it.
“We got into a similar problem [against Ireland], and that came back to bite us a little bit, so it’s really a matter of backs being accountable for the decisions they make and retaining the ball to give our forwards a chance to impose themselves, and that’s going to be a big part of the solution.”
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In spite of that, Foster deemed a tactical overhaul as unnecessary for Sunday’s [NZT] season-ending clash against Les Bleus at the Stade de France, where a defeat would condemn the All Blacks to their worst test campaign since 2009.
There are going to have to be some selection change-ups this weekend when a reeling All Blacks side takes on France. #AllBlacks #IREvNZL #FRAvNZLhttps://t.co/3B9sEmTMdj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 15, 2021
However, he made note that his side tried to overplay their hand too early against the Irish and indicated that the Kiwis must earn the right to play expansively against a French team whose defence is masterminded by English guru Shaun Edwards.
“Our defence has been a considerable contributor to our performance through this year, and I think we are seeing a lot of growth through that space,” he said.
“But, I think when you’re playing a team that you’re asked to make a lot of tackles, and then when you do get the ball, you’ve got to build the right to try and put them under pressure and I think we were a little bit keen on making things happen too quickly.
“When we turned it over, that put us straight into a defensive mode, so we probably needed to build some periods of time in that game that we could actually start putting them under more pressure than we actually did.
“When we did do that, it was actually looking okay, but we didn’t do enough of it.”
Any adjustments to the All Blacks’ game plan will be made over the coming days as New Zealand’s coaching staff conduct a review into what went wrong in the Irish capital.
Don’t expect France to replicate Ireland in the way in which they go about trying to beat the All Blacks in Paris this weekend. #AllBlacks #FRAvNZL #AutumnNationsSeries https://t.co/9cBQcMI0iP
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 14, 2021
That review is scheduled to take place overnight, but Foster has already hinted that changes are required if the All Blacks are to breach the advantage line with ball in hand, something they routinely failed to do against Ireland.
With that in mind, Anton Lienert-Brown’s partially dislocated shoulder, which has ruled him out of the France test, could force the inclusion of youngster Quinn Tupaea in the Kiwi midfield given his powerful ball-carrying ability.
“We’ll come up with a plan. There’s some things we’re going to have to do against France and you’ve got to make sure we make a lot of gain line in the game of rugby nowadays,” Foster said.
“We didn’t get enough last week to operate off in an effective way, so we’ve got to find ways through that.
“That’s not just an attitudinal thing, that’s a tactical and skill-based thing as well, so that’s stuff that’s we’ve got to build our plan and process this week and figure out where the best part of the field is to get that, where we see opportunities, versus France, and they’ll be different to Ireland.”
The best AB coach Springbok supporters have seen in some time.
I am an all time great fan of All Blacks....although living in a less popular rugby playing nation. Analyzing the standard of present and the past players & the coaches of All Blacks, it is pity that there is growing contrast between them, concerning professionalism, individual seriousness, 100% commitment on the field, aggressiveness of physicality, running straight in to gaps with ball in hand, failing immensely in turnover balls, loosing the balls and tackles, very poor in up n under, hardly seeing charging own kicks & give a scare to opposition (eg. South Africa, excellent) etc..
It's high time to change as per the world's leading teams challenges to adopt while resorting to own brand of rugby. Ian Foster seems not allowing senior players to be regular in the team to build confidence of slots as a team instead keep experimenting with different players & combos. It's true that New Zealand have in-depth talent lining up every year. But in a team 70-80% must consist with regular players while changing underperformers & injured. This is what we saw during Richie Maccaw's time the success & the visionary coaching team. Other wise specially super performers moral, confidence, consistency, team work, interest will be shattered & questionable. Because generally human being tends to deliver things with grudges due to reasons.
World rugby, always keep All Blacks standard as a measuring tool...so All Blacks must maintain the brand keep growing at any cost to be as No 1 in the world. Presently all other leading teams have grown to the standard of All Blacks to compete. Therefore no contrast can be observed.
Foster standard will be the same even after next world cup, therefore retaining the current best coaching talent is vital for New Zealand for the next 10-15 years down the line. It's not late, a good coach can turn the tables within no time. This was proven by Rassie of South Africa.
The best coach right now for All Blacks should be Scott Robertson no doubt. Definitely he can raise the standard bar to the next level for many years with his charisma. I love All Blacks bring glamour to this oval shape rugby ball every game that they play.
I'm of sure Ian was watching the same game I was The tight five could be compared to Enid Blyton's famous five as fictional characters When did we last see the tight five do the hard yards up the middle of the field slowly drawing in the defence and creating time and space for the wings The backline was always static when it received the ball and therefore easy pickings for the defence Finally if I can work out how to beat a rushing defence then surely the all black coaches will have done the same so why haven't they introduced it into their game plan
I agree with Fossie the players need to look in the mirror at themselves, these are paid professional rugby players, dropping passes, not catching passes, foward passes, passing to no one, intercept pass, is that fossie fault NO, you put yourselves under pressure thats why you lost, maybe fossie should go to the hardawre shop and buy some concrete and some super glue for your hands I hear the excuses its along tour, we lost our captain, the ref sucks, the coaches suck, miss our families, Your an All Black there are no excuses, now get out there this weekend and give the french a taste of Waterloo.
Fozzie needs to go and his coaching team. Definitely not a fan in rotational selections in any form however AllBlacks are destined to struggle under Fozzie. Why have your power forwards benched or not even in the mix. Akira and Shannon would scare any pack around the world. Having both straightening the lines would open the back line to be opened up. Blackadder has no fear factor. He is a world class player but we don't want to be equal with the world we want to destroy the competition. TJ can't unlock the backline as he is too slow with his pass and strategy. Mounga cant operate if the defence is in his face. Christie would have done better. Thank goodness Aaron Smith is there. Wish Scott was the coach not gifted to someone who has no real results as head coach
That is twice in a row that the ALL BLACK HEAD COACH has publicly criticized his team for losing to IRELAND or playing below par against Italy instead of accepting that his own huge coaching team has themselves failed to provide them with an on field plan B at the end of a tiring tour and failing to accept their own responsibilities in the circumstances and accepting that HE'S LOST THE PLOT! 🤠