Springboks start with mind games ahead of ABs clash
Ian Foster has given All Blacks fans the message they so badly wanted to hear.
When the All Blacks fire up their engines and get their tracks rattling before they charge into Yokohama Stadium on Saturday night, they will want to let the rugby world know why they are so feverish about retaining the Webb Ellis Cup.
As for the Springboks? Well, they will know what’s coming.
But, in the unlikely scenario that they didn’t, the Springboks can expect no mercy when the two sides collide in their first World Cup pool game.
On Monday, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said a defeat inflicted by the Springboks wouldn’t be a major issue, noting France qualified for the 2011 final after they suffered a defeat to the All Blacks in a pool game.
That may be the case, but this is the All Blacks versus Springboks we are talking about. It’s a big deal.
‘‘It’s important in game one – you want to get your performance right,’’ assistant coach Foster said.
‘‘So we want to go and kick this tournament off at a level that we want, to really want to put a marker down and say ‘that’s where we are at’.
‘‘For our own information, more than anything.
‘‘So we can actually grow. Because you know you have to get better and better and you know you have got to improve.’’
Forget, for a moment, the last couple of lines delivered by Foster. It’s his earlier comments that will resonate with All Blacks supporters.
What matters to them, right now, is that their team is not going to die wondering in Yokohama.
The All Blacks enter this tournament as the favourites, and a victory over the Boks would reinforce why they are to be feared.
Hansen said his players would have licence to use any moves they wanted, that there was no point storing them away for later in the tournament.
Regardless of what happens on Saturday night, the All Blacks will know the analysts from their next opponents will immediately slice up the footage for their bosses.
‘‘Because everyone else is going to analyse you and see what you are doing, and chop and change,’’ Foster said. ‘‘So we will deliver up our game.
‘‘People will assess it and look at it. We would love to think it’s all for a good result, and then we will re-form.’’
The All Blacks didn’t keep much in reserve, either, when they trained in their enclosed venue Tokyo yesterday morning.
Former All Blacks lock Isaac Ross, who departed for Japan after playing eight tests in 2009, joined the squad in the stifling humidity.
Media were only permitted to watch the warmups, but midfielder Sonny Bill Williams, first five-eighth Richie Mo’unga, flanker Sam Cane and centre Jack Goodhue all appeared to be suffering no ill effects from the injuries that prevented them from playing in the 92-7 flogging of Tonga in Hamilton earlier this month.
Injured lock Brodie Retallick – who hasn’t played since Springboks replacement lock RG Snyman dislocated his shoulder with an illegal clean out during the 16-16 draw in Wellington two months ago – was also involved in the warmups, but he still appears to be targeting the later pool games, or the quarterfinal, to make his comeback.