Ireland loss ‘learning experience’

AUCKLAND: Grant Fox believes the All Blacks’ loss to Ireland last year will make them even tougher to beat at this year’s Rugby World Cup.

The All Blacks selector said a tough endofyear tour in 2018 had further stiffened the team’s resolve as it seeks a World Cup threepeat in Japan, and believes that the adversity and challenges it encountered on that tour — most notably in the 169 loss in Dublin — will be a useful experience to call upon.

‘‘Ireland was the rock under the beach towel all summer, which just serves as motivation for us. Better to find out how to cope with Ireland, because we’ve also been beaten by them in Chicago, so they’ve got a couple over us,’’ Fox told Radio Sport.

‘‘We were making some adjustments to our plan. We aren’t going to divulge it, but a lot of it worked and some of it didn’t, so we’ve made some readjustments.

‘‘Better to learn that last year than [at] the business end of a World Cup — to take it as a learning experience.’’

Fox also said he could understand 2011 winning coach Sir Graham Henry saying he was less confident of RWC success this year, compared to 2015.

However, Fox had a counterargument to Henry’s take, pointing out the impressive nature of the All Blacks’ 1615 win at Twickenham in November.

‘‘He also knows the All Black mindset,’’ Fox said.

‘‘The performance against England must be put into some context around the conditions, which were very suited to England, not us.

‘‘We actually got through that game and closed out a tough test match pretty well. That augurs well in terms of what the business end of a World Cup looks like.’’

Also, if the All Blacks needed a reminder of how tough it is to win the World Cup, Fox believes they got it on that endofyear tour.

‘‘Our group won’t sit too comfortably with [what happened in 2018] . . . there is no chance of complacency.

‘‘We’ve got a bit of work to do and that’s not a bad place to be.’’ — NZME