Ian Foster says he isn’t losing patience with his All Blacks.
But he will know, surely without anyone needing to remind him, that the All Blacks’ massive fan base is starting to get increasingly bewildered by the team’s yo-yo form fluctuations and will be wondering how coach Foster can put an end to them after the historic 25-18 loss to Argentina in Christchurch on Saturday night.
“Not losing patience, but certainly hurting,” Foster said after he watched the All Blacks lose to Argentina for the first time on New Zealand soil.
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Argentina head coach Michael Cheika and Ian Foster shake hands after the game.
“It’s hard work when the team is not, sort of, at 100 percent every week. But I have been there when it is, and I know how much experience you need to get to that point and how much hard work and how settled the team needs to be.”
When Foster fronted the media after the defeat at Orangetheory Stadium he put up a brave front as he tried to get his head around the team’s poor performance after beating the Springboks 35-23 in Johannesburg a fortnight earlier.
Foster lamented the All Blacks inability to adjust their kicking game when confronted with the solid defensive line, and their aggressive and clever work at the breakdown.
He was also disappointed the All Blacks lineout fell apart in the final quarter, as three throws were lost. They also had a fine chance to score a try in the closing minutes as they camped inside the opposition quarter but, again, their execution was poor and they were penalised.
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All Blacks coach Ian Foster has now lost six of his last eight tests in charge of the team.
What should alarm NZ Rugby is that the All Blacks have now lost six of their last eight games.
Remember, NZ Rugby decided Foster was the right man to take this team forward, when they refused to appoint Scott Robertson and stuck with the incumbent last week.
NZ Rugby chairman Stewart Mitchell was adamant the board voted unanimously for Foster to remain in his job. Now, Mitchell and his fellow board members will be feeling the heat whenever they go out in public.
Because everyone is now asking how Foster can win back the fans’ trust. The best way to do that, of course, is to win games.
But his record is shabby. Under his guidance the All Blacks have become the first team to lose three tests in New Zealand since internationals were played in this country 119 years ago.
But it seems certain, for now at least, that NZ Rugby isn’t going to sack Foster after they endorsed him to continue through to the World Cup in France next year.
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The Pumas celebrate beating the All Blacks 25-18 in the Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks.
So, for Foster, the challenge is to get his team to improve before their next Rugby Championship test against Argentina in Hamilton next weekend.
“For us, as you can imagine, there is a shed full of people that are hurting right now,” Foster added. “We are working hard and making some moves in our game.
“Things are hard work at the moment, I thought that at halftime we had got some really good set-piece dominance, we kept them in the game with what I thought was some pretty average on the offside line.
“We gave them four penalties in that space in the second half.”
Foster described the try that was scored by Argentina No 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez after halftime as a “momentum swinger”.
“And then we ended up trying to over-play our hand, really, and got a little bit frustrated against them. Our set-piece didn’t quite work the way we wanted in the latter part, and we probably forgot to play our kicking game.
“So, a tough learning curve for this group at the moment.”
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