Soulsearching after shock All Black loss
AUCKLAND: Five tests, two wins, is grim reading in anyone’s book.
For a team with lofty expectations such as the All Blacks, it is completely unacceptable.
Successive defeats for the first time in nine years paints a stark picture of where this team, at the beginning of a new cycle, sits.
Saturday’s historic 2515 loss to Argentina, which followed last week’s loss to the Wallabies in Brisbane, is a black mark no All Black wants against his name. So, too, Ian Foster who has the worst win rate (40%) of an All Black coach after five tests since Alex McDonald in 1949.
Foster shrugged off mounting pressure but the manner in which the Pumas brought more passion, urgency and accuracy to their triumph cut the All Blacks deep, leaving them searching for answers as to how they were upstaged by a side that had not played a test for 402 days.
‘‘It’s been a massively difficult year for everyone but . . . we’ve been met with a team with a little bit too much passion for us and we’ve got to sort that out,’’
❛ This role always comes with pressure so what I feel right now is massive disappointment
Ian Foster
Foster said.
‘‘There’s no excuses. It’s an All Blacks jersey and we want to be at our best every time.
‘‘This role always comes with pressure so what I feel right now is massive disappointment. The key right now is we’ve got a lot of good people in this group, we’ve shown we can perform at a high level and we’ve just got to go back to doing it.’’
Foster, his new coaching staff and leadership group have plenty of areas to confront before their chance to seek revenge on the Pumas in two weeks, in their final test of the year.
Absent composure is not an easy fix. The All Blacks of Richie McCaw’s era escaped countless defeats through holding their nerve under intense pressure.
On this occasion, in the final 10 minutes alone, the All Blacks squandered three tryscoring chances which prompted captain Sam Cane to defend suggestions the team is lacking leadership.
‘‘If you look through the team, I think there’s plenty of experience, but there’s no doubt there were times in that game where, as individuals and as a team, we didn’t have as much composure as we would have liked,’’ Cane said.
‘‘That’s a clear area of focus for us but I think we’ve got the right men in there for the job.’’ — The New Zealand Herald
SYDNEY: Argentina served up one of the biggest upsets in test rugby when it stunned New Zealand 2515 in the TriNations on Saturday, beating the threetimes world champion for the first time in 30 attempts going back 35 years.
An inspired Nicolas Sanchez scored all Argentina’s points with a try, six penalties and a conversion, and the Pumas held off a fierce late onslaught from the All Blacks to secure a famous victory in their first test for more than a year.
The Argentines were given almost no chance of registering a victory in their tournament opener after being kept off the pitch, mostly in quarantined environments, for almost the entire season by the global health crisis.
The Western Sydney Stadium was a most unlikely venue for their first win over the All Blacks but the ecstatic Pumas players gathered in front of a small band of their compatriots at the final whistle and celebrated with song and dance.
‘‘They just showed themselves as they are, the players are like that and Argentinian people are like that,’’ coach Mario Ledesma said.
‘‘I think for a long time we were copying what other people were doing, but we’re different, just different, really proud of being different.
‘‘This is really special for us.’’ First fiveeighth Sanchez was a clear man of the match but it was a team effort as the Pumas tackled like demons, rucked like bulls and ran the ball with confidence throughout the 80 minutes in front of 9063 fans.
The All Blacks had been looking to impose themselves on the competition after losing 2422 to Australia last week in Brisbane, but instead fell to backtoback test defeats for the first time since August 2011.
Captain Sam Cane finally forced his way over the Argentina line in the 53rd minute and winger Caleb Clarke followed after the hooter but it was too little, too late.
‘‘It was very tough.
‘‘Full credit to Argentina. They came out with more intent than we did and they thoroughly deserved their victory tonight,’’ Cane said.
‘‘They just kept coming . . .’’' Twice a World Cup semifinalist, Argentina has come close to beating New Zealand before. Even when it led 193 shortly after halftime, it only raised expectations of yet another great escape from the All Blacks.
Sanchez had scored his team’s only try after 19 minutes, getting a kindly bounce off his own chip kick before gathering to touch down as the referee was playing advantage after yet more illdiscipline from the All Blacks.
There was plenty of niggle and aggression from the Pumas as well but they kept their discipline when it counted and, more importantly, made remarkably few errors for a team with so little match practice.
Sanchez punished the All Blacks for their transgressions ruthlessly from the kicking tee, his final penalty from 50m three minutes from time taking the lead out to 15 points and leaving New Zealand needing a miracle.
‘‘They challenged us on our composure and it’s probably two weeks we haven’t handled that very well,’’ New Zealand coach Ian Foster, who has now overseen only two wins in his first five matches in charge, said.
‘‘They came here with massive energy, and probably a massive desire to prove something for their country who have gone through a heck of a hard time.’’
New Zealand remain top of the standings with six points ahead of Australia and Argentina, who both have four, but that mattered not a jot to the Pumas after they finally completed the full set of wins over the top tier rugby nations.
‘‘It’s kind of surreal,’’ Ledesma added.
‘‘Just even playing that game after everything that has happened for Argentina this year.
‘‘I think we’ll remember this for a long time . . . I guess somebody will write a book about it.’’
The winner of next Saturday night’s Wallabies versus Pumas clash in Newcastle will leapfrog the All Blacks and go top of the table, ensuring the newlook rugby championship goes down to the wire. — Reuters
LONDON: Coach Eddie Jones and captain Owen Farrell were united in their appraisal of yesterday’s match against Georgia as being ‘‘tough’’, despite England winning 400 and being in control for almost all of its opening Autumn Nations Cup encounter.
Three rollingmaul tries for hooker Jamie George and further scores for debutant flanker Jack Willis, Elliot Daly and Dan Robson took England to success in an attritional game played in rain at Twickenham.
‘‘Good tough game. Georgia obviously came out and wanted to play a certain way, and we wanted to prove a point that they wouldn’t be able to outscrum us,’’ Jones said.
‘‘We wanted to make a point that we weren’t going to be stood over and we did that.’’
Farrell was singing from the same hymn sheet when he said: ‘‘Tough conditions against a tough opposition.
‘‘When the weather is like this and it’s an upfront challenge against Georgia it is tough, but I thought the forwards stood up to it.’’
Also yesterday, Scotland dug deep to overcome Italy 2817 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, coming from behind through tries from Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings and George Turner to record a fifth successive win for coach Gregor Townsend.
Italy in theory next faces Fiji on November 21, in a fixture that could be in doubt given the outbreak of Covid19 in the latter camp that resulted in its match against France being cancelled.
Scotland is due to take on France on November 22.
Wales coach Wayne Pivac said he is still the right man to take the team forward after it crashed to a sixth straight loss, 329 to Ireland on Saturday.
Pivac took over from Warren Gatland after last year’s World Cup in Japan, where Wales was a semifinalist, and began the Six Nations with a 420 win over Italy on February 1, only to then lose to Ireland, France and England.
Wales was then beaten by France in a friendly international as action resumed following the Covid19 hiatus before slumping to another Six Nations loss to Scotland last month.
Asked if he remains confident he is the person to turn their fortunes around, Pivac said: ‘‘Yes. From a head coach’s point of view in these situations it’s about the vibe in the changing room and among the players.
‘‘I think if you were in the changing room, you’d see a very disappointed team but a team that has put in a hell of a shift. We had asked for that after the Scottish performance . . .’’
Pivac, whose side faces Georgia on November 21, said its poor form this year was a bitter pill to swallow, but his players will look to respond.
‘‘It’s taking a bit of time for us to click and make sure we eliminate the errors that are hampering us. We’re looking to change what’s been done for over 10 years and change mindsets and it doesn’t happen overnight.’’ — Reuters