Foster plays it cool but Talea call rocks All Blacks prep

Mark Telea of the All Blacks runs through drills during a New Zealand All Blacks training session at INSEP training grounds on October 12, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

All Blacks scrum-half Aaron Smith teed up their World Cup quarter-final meeting with Ireland by suggesting, rather simplistically, that whichever team can arrange most of their ducks in a row all week will get to spend the next two weeks here in France. If that’s the case then the three-time champions start on the back foot.

The decision to omit wing Mark Talea from the 23 for disciplinary reasons is not one that fits the picture of a squad dotting every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘t’. Telea scored two brilliant tries against France in the opener and has been a major success for the Kiwis this last year.