Foster applauds 'best performance I have come up against in my time' as head coach

Sat, 13 Nov, 2021 - 19:05

Brendan O'Brien and Tony Leen

Ian Foster entered the press conference room at the Aviva Stadium and got straight to the point.

“They thoroughly deserved the win,” the All Blacks coach admitted. “I was really impressed by them.”

There were a few minor caveats dropped into the next 20 minutes or so as he shared his views on this latest All Black loss to Ireland, but the central pillar stood resolute throughout: this was the hosts’ day and rightly so.

Foster has the unenviable distinction of being on hand for all three of Ireland’s win against the Kiwis now. He was assistant coach to Steve Hansen in 2016 and 2018 and now he’s the head bottle washer for this latest reversal.

A good man to appraise where this one ranks, then.

The theory going into this one was that Ireland are different now. Less rigid and structured than under Joe Schmidt. That’s undeniable, but it’s not as if Andy Farrell came in, cleared out the room and started painting from scratch.

“I made the point before the game,” said Foster. “I felt that there are a lot of similarities. Ireland play a very high retention game. They like to retain the ball and put the system under pressure and we saw that again tonight.

“But there is certainly an ambition to play a bit more around that so it is a little bit wider in how they’re playing, some of the phase stuff and how they counter attack. Don’t get me wrong, that was a very good performance and probably the best performance I have come up against in my time.”

The next challenge for this Irish team in terms of this rivalry – for that’s what it now is – is to win in New Zealand. They will get there chances to do just that down there next summer but that’s a long way into the distance for now.

“I would need binoculars to see that one,” Foster joked.

Win in New Zealand for the first time when they go there next year and Ireland will go a long way towards drowning out the noise emanating from those who insist that these November meetings are mere friendlies and not worthy of the acclaim.

The All Blacks are 14 weeks on the road now, a journey that has taken them to Australia for the Rugby Championship, the USA, Wales, Italy and now here in Ireland. They could retreat behind that schedule if they wished but Foster refused the cover.

“We wouldn’t say something like. ‘this isn’t a World Cup game’ or whatever. We were very excited about playing and didn’t get what we wanted. Hung in there and still didn’t get what we want. Sometimes you just have to accept that you are second-best on the night.”

All told, it was a gracious performance by Foster, right down to the remark that he “only saw Irish players” when asked for a word or two on the home team’s trio of Kiwis: Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe and Bundee Aki.

That sense of mutual affection was an extension of what had happened on the pitch after the final whistle when Jonathan Sexton and Sam Whitelock exchanged gifts to mark two very different recent events.

“Johnny had a gift for Beauden Barrett for his 100th cap a few weeks ago,” explained Whitelock. “We wanted to give Johnny a gift of a few bottles of New Zealand red win for his 100th cap as well.

“Johnny and the team made a very nice gesture on the passing of Sean Wainui and a jersey dedicated to him. That will be passed on to his family once we get back to New Zealand so that was very special for the team to do and something we don’t take for granted.”

Meanwhile reaction to their third loss to Ireland in the last six tests has been swift and brutal in New Zealand – with some commentators believing the All Blacks may need to rip up the script and draw up a new rugby blueprint.

“The hard truth for New Zealand is that they were never in the game,” wrote top New Zealand Herald writer Gregor Paul.

“They scrambled and they scrapped and they threw all they had, but from even the first minute it looked like they were struggling.”

The glass half full conclusion would be to suggest the All Blacks showed character to stay in the game for so long but Paul warned of a greater need to resist that temptation and question whether rugby in New Zealand is so gripped by a pass and catch culture that it has genuinely lost touch of what test rugby is all about.

“There is reason to be worried that the All Blacks no longer have the ante to play at the same table as the likes of Ireland, England and South Africa and are no closer to finding the muscularity they need than they were when they began searching for it four years ago.

“The fact they were so inferior in so many ways, said more about where they really sit in the world pecking order. Losing to Ireland is now becoming habitual and that may be because the All Blacks can't match them for sheer physical impact and muscularity.”

Gregor Paul added in the Herald: “Ireland were stronger, faster, more cohesive and they played the sort of attacking rugby the All Blacks were intending to play but simply couldn't.

“And now there is reason to worry a little bit. To wonder if this inability to front physical teams, to handle the power of the Northern Hemisphere's best is now endemic and a problem that they can't fix.”

He said what prevented this test being a disaster for the All Blacks was the way they defended and the way they did at least manage a mini rally. The sense of desperation in the All Blacks tackling was intense, but there was calm and composure shining through the frenzy.

His NZ Herald colleague Liam Napier reckoned Ireland fulfilled their status as one of the great modern-day foes to record their third win over the All Blacks.

“The All Blacks managed a couple of moments of brilliance but they struggled to build any consistent pressure through phases and when they review the tape it will show they were often beaten in the collisions,” he wrote.

Marc Hinton, writing for stuff.co.nz admitted: “Let’s give Ireland credit first. You can’t call it an ambush when you know it’s coming, and the New Zealanders went into this contest well aware of what was heading their way from a home side with its confidence and belief up. For all that, they simply had no answer to the urgency and aggression of their hosts, even if they were able to stay in the contest on the back of an heroic defensive effort.”

Hinton added: “Ian Foster’s men simply had no answer to the intensity, defensive ferocity and complete and utter possession dominance of Andy Farrell’s Ireland side.