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Ian Foster's message for All Blacks supporters: 'This is a very good Irish team'
While Ian Foster wasn’t interested in talking about his future as All Blacks‘ coach following New Zealand’s 10-point loss to Ireland on Saturday evening, he did have a message for fans around the country who have been expressing growing frustration with the All Blacks’ performances in recent times.
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Ireland earned their first-ever win over the All Blacks in New Zealand last weekend when they secured a 23-12 win in Dunedin and in also beating them 32-22 in Wellington, Ireland have become just the third nation to achieve a series win in NZ.
Factoring in losses to both Ireland and France on last year’s end-of-year tour, it’s fair to say that All Blacks fans are now becoming increasingly unhappy with Foster’s tenure as the top dog.
Speaking after the defeat at Sky Stadium, Foster moved to quell the concerns of those around New Zealand who are likely feeling especially disappointed after another historical loss.
“First and foremost, I think New Zealanders have probably got to realise this is a very good Irish team and give them some credit,” he said, “I think it would be disrespectful for us to not make that the number one item.
“They’ve come and achieved something pretty special here and I think they deserve a bit of time in the sun for that.
“For us, we’re a group working hard, we’re working on solutions. We’ve got a lot of belief in many of the solutions we’ve got but we’ve now got to get better at executing them and so we’ve been given a real marker in the sand for where we’re at.”
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All Blacks captain Sam Cane also emphasised that while things aren’t coming together just yet for the side, the team is doing everything they can to right their wrongs and bring some pride back to the black jersey.
“I know for a fact that boys are trying extremely hard and are hurting a lot right now,” he said. “So I think the only good thing that can come out of this is we use it for fuel to get better.
“If we don’t learn, if we don’t use this whole experience, the last [part] of this series to learn and be better, then it’s just wasted. We’ve just got to pick ourselves up real quickly, find solutions, look at positives and find a way to go forward from it.”
Foster was a contentious selection for head coach when appointed following the 2019 World Cup with Crusaders maestro Scott Robertson a popular candidate around New Zealand.
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With Robertson going from success to success year after year with the Crusaders, calls for a change-up in the coaching set-up are inevitable but Foster made it clear that he’s adamant he can take the team forward and they can build from their run of disappointing results.
“Yes,” was his one-word reply when queried whether he was confident he can ‘make the team better’.
The All Blacks will play their next two matches in South Africa in the opening two rounds of the Rugby Championship, with the first taking place in Johannesburg on August 6.
Ireland can feel rightfully confident when they play the All Blacks, the psychology has been with them since the Soldier Field 40-29 win in Chicago USA in 2016, and the AB invincible tag has well and truly been busted since then. To date since 2016 the win loss ratio is four wins each to Ireland and NZ, including the 46-14 NZ RWC QF2 win in 2019, which gives some clue to Ireland's progress as a developing team in recent years.
The 25-15 Rugby Championship win in November 2020 by Argentina, a team which had not played rugby for 402 days due to COVID-19 should have been taken more seriously, the fact Argentina outplayed the AB's says a lot about the variable team psychology of the AB's, but this apparently got ignored as Argentina was convincingly beaten in the subsequent next three tests.
Interestingly South Africa have had just two wins versus the AB's since 2016 and Australia three wins v the AB's. So the Bok's will want to improve a lot during this coming Rugby Championship.
NZ should play France before the 2023 RWC, NZ having won all five French games since 2016, the French team will be a challenge if NZ has to beat them in the opening game and then progress to the finals.
England have only been played twice since 2016 and NZ lost one game with a close scoring second win, apart from the coming November European test the AB's also need another test versus England as a warm up before the RWC, England could be a dark horse for the RWC final with their 80 minute journeyman rugby.
The 2022 Rugby Championship could be the most interesting for some while, not just for the status of southern hemisphere rugby but also for the current form of the teams which all have had a challenging test series each.
Trying to predict who is likely to beat the AB's will be interesting especially as NZ will start the series playing in South Africa with two games, the Bok's will be feeling confident for sure. Australia will want to win at least one game as will Argentina who may achieve a winning start playing Australia on home turf in Argentina after a successful series versus Scotland. Considering the media criticism it's tough times ahead for Foster and the All Blacks.
Thanks Foster - I had no idea that this Irish side was good - thanks for clearing that up for me!
“For us, we’re a group working hard, we’re working on solutions. We’ve got a lot of belief in many of the solutions we’ve got but we’ve now got to get better at executing them and so we’ve been given a real marker in the sand for where we’re at.”
Surely one solution would be to select the best players in their positions, nation wide, and play them there.
So sick of seeing 7s at 8, wings at 13, 4s at 6, fullbacks on the wing, etc. etc.....
Learning this learning that??? I don't believe they have learnt anything. Ireland were once again magnificent but also allowed to be by a pathetic All Black's performance in the first half. If there is a game plan it is a rubbish one and the on field leadership is sorely lacking.