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What the All Blacks 'learned' from their unlikely Rugby Championship win

Ardie Savea, Sam Cane and Shannon Frizell. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

On August 8, his team soundly beaten in South Africa, the bell tolled for All Blacks coach Ian Foster.

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After three straight defeats – the team’s worst run this century – the NZ Herald splashed a sullen-faced Foster on its front page with a headline “It’s time for change”.

While New Zealand Rugby didn’t change Foster – as many fans hoped they would – Foster did change the team.

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With the benefit of some backroom and on-field tweaks, Foster and the All Blacks woke up Rugby Championship winners on Sunday for the third straight year, the title helping to wash away the troubles of the previous weeks.

The All Blacks belted Australia 40-14 on Saturday night at Eden Park to give themselves a big shot at the title, with South Africa needing to beat Argentina by 39 points in their early Sunday morning contest (AEST) to wrest it away.

The Springboks could only manage a 38-21 win, allowing Foster to flick off the TV in his hotel in the 75th minute, around 5:45am local time, a “very satisfied” man.

“It’s a championship that we stated we wanted to win and we’ve done it the hard way,” a bleary-eyed Foster told journalists a few hours later.

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“It’s very special. It’s been a very different journey to other Rugby Championships that we’ve won.

“To do it from behind the eight ball at the start and have to climb through that, it’s not the way we wanted, but it’s really satisfying.”

From the team’s lows in July and August, with two home losses to Ireland, one away to South Africa and one at home to Argentina, the All Blacks shuffled their pack.

Out went two assistant coaches, replaced in the backroom by schemers Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan.

The team found solutions to on-field problems, returning to a kicking game, managing the absence of Ardie Savea in Australia, and pushing Jordie Barrett into midfield at Eden Park to stunning returns.

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“What have we learned? Under pressure we’ve stayed tight,” Foster said.

“Under pressure we’ve sought different solutions that have made all of us uncomfortable at times.

“And I’ll just say, there’s quite a bit left in this tank. There’s still a lot of finishing touches we’re not quite getting right. And what a good place to be.”

Foster has granted his players a fortnight off ahead of a squad naming on October 9 for a northern hemisphere tour beginning in Japan, before trips to Cardiff, Edinburgh and London.

There are also All Blacks XV games in October and November which will give fringe players a shot against Canada and the Scott Robertson-coached Barbarians.

Foster said the spring tour would be “vital” this year given a shortened southern season next year to accomodate the Rugby World Cup in France.

“Next year is pretty thin … five Tests before a World Cup starts next year so we’ve got to maximise our opportunities we get now,” he said.

The All Blacks will head north with their lowest-ever world ranking of fourth – behind Ireland, France and South Africa – but Foster said he was “not deeply concerned about that”.

“What we’re concerned about is that we show the improvement that we need and our trajectory is upwards because where want to be in 12 months time is not to be two, three, four or five. It’s to be one.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Let's be real about these All Blacks

I didn't really get the should tone from it, but maybe because I was just reading it as my own thoughts.


What I read it as was examples of how they played well enough in every game to be able to win it.


Yeah I dunno if Ben wouldn't see it that way (someone else would for sure need to point it out to him though), I'm more in the Ben not appreciating that those close losses werent one off scenarios camp. Sure you can look at dubious decisions causing them to have to play with 14 or 13 men at the death as viable reasons but even in the games they won without such difficulties they made a real struggle of it (compared to how good some of their first half play was). This kind of article where you trying to point out the 3 losses really would most likely have been wins only really makes sense/works when your other performances make those 3 games (or endings) stand out.


There might have been a sentence here and there to ensure some good comment numbers but when he's signing off the article by saying things like ..

Whilst these All Blacks aren’t blowing teams off the park like during the 2010s, they are nuggety and resourceful and don’t wilt. They are prepared to win the hard way, accumulating points by any means necessary.

and..

The other top sides in the world struggled to put them away. France and South Africa both could have well been defeated on home soil.

I don't really see it. Always making sure people are upto date with the SH standing/perspective! NZ went through some tough times with so many different perspectives and reasons why, but then it was.. amusing how.. behind everyone was once they turned a corner. More of these 'unfortunate' results returned against SA and France at the start of the RWC which made it extra tasty to catch other teams out when they did bring it. So that created some 'conscious' perspective that I just kept going and sharing re thoughts on similar predicaments of other teams, I had been really confident that Wallabies displays vs NZ were real, that the Argentines can backup their thing against Aus and SA (and so obviously the rest), and current one is that England are actually consistent and improving with their attack (which everyone should get onboard with), and I'm expecting a more dominant display against Japan (even though they should have more of their experienced internationals for this one) that highlights further growth from July. 👍

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