Foster ready for Wallabies’ niggly tactics
The All Blacks learnt their lesson in Wellington and won’t get flustered, reports Marc Hinton.
The All Blacks are bracing for more Wallabies niggle as Michael Cheika and his men rock up to Eden Park on Saturday with that chip still wedged firmly on their shoulders.
In what is shaping as a momentous occasion for the third ‘‘dead rubber’’ Bledisloe, All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster has conceded the Wallabies will cross the Tasman with almost as much to play for as the New Zealanders.
And that the All Blacks have to be prepared for the sort of physical, off-the-ball niggling tactics they encountered in their 29-9 victory in Wellington. The Wallabies, then, rocked up determined not to suffer a repeat of the embarrassment inflicted a week earlier in Sydney when the New Zealanders had run amok en route to a 42-8 victory.
Yes, Steven Hansen’s allconquering All Blacks are hugely motivated to complete yet another season sweep over the Wallabies. With it, they would finally tick off that record of 18 consecutive test victories by a tier-one nation, not to mention extend their historic run of 44 straight home wins, and 35 on the bounce at Eden Park.
But Foster believes the All Blacks have to be extremely wary of the Wallabies who will rightfully regard this test as a chance to salvage something from their season. They haven’t won at Eden Park since 1986 but three times in the last half-dozen years they have stepped up to halt New Zealand win streaks of similar magnitude.
In 2010 they snapped an All Blacks run of 15 consecutive test victories when they got up 26-24 in Hong Kong; in 2012 an 18-18 draw in Brisbane halted a 16-test streak for the New Zealanders; and in 2014 a 12-12 Sydney stalemate left the Kiwis frustratingly stranded on a record-equalling 17 wins on the bounce.
The Wallabies, in other words, have become specialist streakbusters and Foster says they will come to Eden Park highly hopeful of throwing their green and gold spanner in the works once again.
‘‘When you do the planning for this week it’s going to be either one of the biggest weeks of the year, in terms of a Bledisloe decider, or it’s going to be a test where the Bledisloe is already decided, which it is,’’ Foster told the Star-Times.
‘‘But I guess it’s been made easier by the fact we’ve got a chance to create a bit of history in terms of consecutive wins and that certainly adds some sting to the week. Whenever we play Australia, whether it’s game one, two or three, it’s always a massive occasion. We love games against them, but it’s nice to have something on it as well.
‘‘It’s rather fitting it’s Australia again. History shows they like trying to knock us over at this point and it’s going to be all on.’’
Which was when the subject of the Wallaby niggle in Wellington came up. They came that day determined to stand up to the All Blacks physically, if not in terms of skill.
Foster says they have to expect a similar approach.
‘‘We take a lot from that. We knew how they’d come in to that second test, and they brought it in spades, the niggle around the breakdown, and they tried to do whatever they could to slow the game and the ball down.
‘‘That’s their right to do that, and we allowed them to fluster us a bit. It wouldn’t be smart if we got surprised twice. We’ve had that lesson once and we’ve got to be prepared for that.’’
Foster also reflected on the dramatic arrival on the All Blacks scene of midfielder Anton LienertBrown who has taken to test rugby as though he was born for it.
‘‘We’ve been working on a couple of little skill areas with him, but the good thing is whilst he’s making some gains in some of his running lines and stuff, he has still been able to keep his own instincts about how he wants to play. His offload game has been good, he’s
It wouldn’t be smart if we got surprised again. Ian Foster
got quick feet, and he’s handled the introduction to the test level really, really well.’’
But Foster has cautioned that the challenges will only keep coming for the 21-year-old rookie.
‘‘He’s going to be a lot more analysed, and people are going to be working on how to shut him down. His challenge now is the same as every player when they come in and make a big impact early − to not get complacent, and keep figuring out how they can keep improving.’’
Foster also confirmed that ‘‘power’’ wingers Julian Savea and Waisake Naholo were not necessarily competing for just one backline spot.
‘‘We’d definitely play them together if we judged it in the team’s best interests. There’s no reason at all why we wouldn’t. It’s just that Israel [Dagg} is so good in the air and he’s playing really, really well, so right now he’s putting a lot of pressure on the other two.’’