Foster defends mismatch merits
All Blacks Ian Foster did his utmost to deflect attention from the horror scoreline his side put on a severely understrength Tongan side at Mt Smart Stadium last night.
After witnessing the All Blacks run in 16 tries — Will Jordan scoring five — to equal their record 102-0 margin against the proud Pacific Island nation set 21 years ago in Albany, Foster was forced on the defensive to explain the relevance of the first test of the year.
Restricted in their ability to field a competitive squad due to the Covid19 climate and quarantine challenges in accessing their leading European players, Tonga fielded 13 debutants which included calling in players from the New Zealand club scene.
Toutai Kefu’s side were never going to be any match for the All Blacks — and the final result could hardly have been uglier.
“There is no solution to that right now,” Foster said of the challenges imposed by the global pandemic.
“I’d be disappointed if that’s what we’re dwelling on. We weren’t happy last year when we got no rugby, and this year, we’ve got some.
“Clearly the itinerary has put Tonga in a compromised position but they’ve been keen to play and they deserve a lot of credit for that.
“I’d like to think we’re not just going to focus on the scoreline and say this was a game that shouldn’t have happened, because for the Tongan people, it was an important game and it was equally important for us to start what could be a long year.
“In today’s environment, you take what you can get.”
All Blacks captain Sam Whitelock had a degree of sympathy for the Tongan plight.
“It is tough. I know a few of the Tongan boys really well. I’ve played a lot of rugby with Nasi Manu,” said Whitelock. “It’s really good to see those guys out there but you’d love to see them have a longer build-up. If you have the ideal situation, every team would have a couple of months together.”
Asked what needed to be done to help make Tonga more competitive, Foster said: “Tonga’s performances in World Cup years are very different. You’ve got a World Rugby calendar that makes it very tough for Tonga to prepare their No 1 team in years between that.
“This has been a tough year for them to get organised when you look at Covid, quarantine, it’s impacted on a whole lot of things, but let’s not disrespect the fact that 23 Tongans represented their country [last night] and gave it everything they’ve got.”
From an All Blacks perspective, Foster was adamant he will take plenty from the blowout. He praised his men for sticking to the task and was pleased with the collective shape and skill amid the ever-mounting scoreline.
“We can get a lot out of it because there were some areas we wanted to target. We wanted to drive our skill level early. Sometimes you can start to abandon that when the score goes up and get a bit too loose. I felt there were moments we started to get flat in our support and lost the advantage of the line breaks, but after a while, we readjusted and converted a lot of the opportunities we got and that took a lot of discipline, so we get a pat on the back for that.”
The All Blacks blooded four rookies — Chiefs second-five Quinn Tupaea started in the midfield, while Crusaders loose forward Ethan Blackadder, prop George Bower and Blues halfback Finlay Christie came off the bench in the second half.
“The four guys who played their first tests should be pretty proud of what they did,” Foster said. “[Tupaea] realised after 10 minutes it might be better to go for a weak shoulder than T-bone but he stayed in the game. Finlay was really energetic off the bench, Ethan came on and brought a massive work-rate and chucked himself at everything and George Bower, he looked enthusiastic, so they’ll be sitting in the shed proud with what happened.”
Tongan coach Kefu revealed his side were originally scheduled to play the Ma¯ori All Blacks — stepping up to meet Foster’s men only when Manu Samoa opted out.
“Originally we had the Ma¯ori, but for some reason, it didn’t turn out that way,” Kefu said. “We don’t care, we’ll take it and give it our best shot. It was disappointing we lost by that much but it will be memorable for the new players. We move on. It’s a bad day at the office against the best team in the world.
“Considering the stuff that goes on in the background, we did pretty well to get a team together — 13 new players, so we’re going to celebrate that. They’re just too good for us, it’s pretty simple. We don’t get to play tier ones often, so if we get the chance, we’re going to have a crack.
“For us in any climate, it’s a challenge — then you add Covid on top. In all the campaigns I’ve gone through, our boys don’t complain, they just get on with it.”