The full Ian Foster press conference that's upset a lot of All Blacks fans
The tone of head coach Ian Foster and captain Sam Cane’s press conference after the All Blacks‘ worst defeat to South Africa in 94 years has upset many among their supporter base.
Foster – who is under enormous pressure to keep his job – appeared to drive a narrative of an improving New Zealand side, despite arguably one of their worst performances in living memory.
The men in black looked bereft of ideas and were physically outgunned by the Springboks’ pack.
Kurt-Lee Arendse’s maiden Test try condemned New Zealand to three straight defeats for the first time since 1998 as 14-man South Africa triumphed 26-10 in the Rugby Championship opener.
Shannon Frizzell claimed a late try for the again-stunned All Blacks, but Willie le Roux hit back with a score of his own to claim the last word.
The two sides meet again in Johannesburg in a week’s time, where anything other than a New Zealand victory could easily see Foster forced out of his job.
Yet Foster preferred to dwell on the positives, to the point where many fans were questioning if the 52-year-old was talking about the same match.
“We’re bitterly disappointed but I felt it was our most improved performance this year,” said the 52-year-old. “Some of the areas we really shifted our game forward. In a game dominated by defence we defended well but our timing was out a little bit in terms of the attack so we’re going to have to go and have a look at that.”
“There’s a few players over here for the first time feeling the pressure that comes from this type of team.
“We came over here for a two-game series and we always knew it was going to be tough. We felt that tonight. They get the lollies and they thoroughly deserve that. We’ve got to take some things that we’ve made big shifts in. We nullified a large part of their driving game.
“We made some shifts defensively and in the last quarter we were starting to open things up. We started to snatch at a couple of balls which is frustrating but we’ve got to take that experience and take it into Ellis Park, walk in there and give it a crack.”
additional reporting PA
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The weather was dreadful but the playing surface was great so there is no real excuse for such another poor standard of play from both sides. Dragons just the better team. But, what a shocking decision by the TMO not to award the Fifita try. This pretty much sums up Welsh rugby with poor teams and poor officials. The WRU have a lot of work to do and it needs to be done quickly to avoid rugby being lost to our future generations.
Go to commentsNo chance of Borthwick selecting any young talent. He announced his selection policy from the outset with naming a poor OF as Captain, retaining an equally poor Youngs and Vunipola brothers when there were many better EQP in the Premiership. SB revival of Leicester was based on SA muscle and a terrific Welsh flanker he has generally ignored young English talent.
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