Let’s get clinical, not cynical, urges Foster

The ‘‘cynics’’ are being challenged from all corners to dial back their offending as the All Blacks gather themselves for one final effort this weekend.

Cynical is the vogue word doing the rounds this week after All Blacks captain Kieran Read, no less, was outed for what appeared a clearcut yellow-card offence late in the 22-17 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend.

Read, on the ground and out of the play, batted the ball out of the hands of Scotland lock Jonny Gray as the home team attacked from just metres out. It was a sinbin/ penalty, at best, from a New Zealand perspective, which would have seen the All Blacks play the last eight minutes with just 13 (Wyatt Crockett was already on the naughty boy’s chair).

But referee Matthew Carley and his support network all missed it, and the All Blacks were able to dig their way out of another tight spot. Cue collective sigh from the doubting north.

Scotland’s assistant coach Dan McFarland’s view of the offence wasn’t reputation-enhancing for the leader of the best rugby team on the planet.

‘‘That was just cynical ... everybody knows when you get the ball into their 22, the very last thing they want to do is concede a try. They’re very streetwise, very clever,’’ he said.

You could say Read made the play he needed to. He got away with it. And quite possibly saved a try in that moment.

But the All Blacks are also playing a dangerous game of rugby roulette, and that’s where the coaching staff are urging a more moderate approach under pressure. They have conceded 29 penalties in their two tests on tour (14 against France and 15 last weekend against Scotland) and on both occasions infringements, and yellow cards, have handed their opponents a sniff of an upset.

France, in the end, didn’t get

close. But the Scots certainly did.

That’s why All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster has called for an improvement in his team’s

infringement rate in Saturday’s season finale against Wales.

‘‘It’s been higher than what we want,’’ said Foster, while noting

their opponents had conceded a few too.

‘‘I don’t think it’s interpretation. They’re pretty clear about

what they want at scrum time, and with offside lines.

‘‘We’ve looked at it and said we weren’t quite good enough in that to have the tools to at least trouble the world champions.

But there is another side to the coin. Hansen has used 55 players this year and has had 44 involved in some form on this tour. He is building incredible depth. If you think that Ben Smith, Jordie Barrett, Izzy Dagg, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Brodie Retallick, Joe Moody and Owen Franks all missed this tour - that’s a massive injection of talent and experience to come back in.

In the meantime Hansen is building more or less an alternate All Blacks side. By the time the World Cup rolls round he won’t be just twodeep at every spot, but three or four in some. Competition just to make that squad is going to be as intense as it has ever been.

Hansen knows this. After the Scotland near-miss, this is what he had to say: ‘‘It’s about how we learn from this year. This is a road bump, a little bit like 2009. We had a few road bumps that year and kicked on to become a pretty good side. There are seven people from the ‘15 World Cup final team in this squad, and only three starters. So a hell of a lot of experience has gone out the door.

‘‘It’s been a good year for the team. We’ve had to grow and learn ... and other people have had to stand up and take ownership and responsibility. We always knew at some point these guys would have to do that, and it’s probably come a year later than we expected.

‘‘We’ve got 10 guys out as well ... but on the positive side we’re getting a lot of guys exposed to rugby they wouldn’t necessarily be exposed to, and we’ll be better for that.’’

Just how much better we may not know till 2019 in Japan. Remember, no-one plays the long game quite like Hansen.

area in that spell in the second half [at Murrayfield]. We want to take responsibility for what we think we didn’t get right and fix that.

‘‘We need to take it out of the referee’s hands, and we need to be better at what we do.’’

In other words, the All Blacks need to be less cynical, more clinical. That’s been the big focus this week, with attitude fingered as a shortcoming in Edinburgh, and now discipline.

Foster wasn’t making excuses, but he pointed out that last week, with its Paris-Lyon-Edinburgh route, was ‘‘unique’’, and might have challenged a few minds with the disruption to the normal test buildup.

‘‘Large parts we felt we got right ... but we probably didn’t finish any of those games to the degree we wanted to.

‘‘Did we prepare well? I think we did. Did we prepare as well as we could? Probably not. The fact we were up 12 against Scotland with five minutes to go, and opened the door was frustrating.

‘‘It’s not a matter of pulling the whole game apart. It’s figuring out what the critical parts are we need to sort out. This week we’d quite like to start a little bit better and finish a bit better. Smart idea, eh?’’