‘Large parts I was proud of’: Foster

All Blacks coach Ian Foster says he was ‘‘proud’’ of large chunks of his team’s effort at Twickenham and feels the 25-25 draw to sign off the year reflected the ‘‘progress’’ made this year.

It was interesting, yet not a surprise, to hear Foster so defiantly upbeat following what could only be described as another final-quarter calamity from the All Blacks as they coughed up a 25-6 lead with nine minutes remaining against Eddie Jones’ England side yesterday.

On that, at least, he has been consistent this year as he has continued to search for the positives throughout a rollercoaster campaign from his side that has featured four defeats, a draw and two or three close scrapes against sides they should have handled with ease.

England roared home at Twickenham with three tries in those final nine minutes, aided by a yellow card to visiting fullback Beauden Barrett, to snatch an unlikely stalemate and underline the fragility of these All Blacks at the business end of big rugby tests.

Remember, they also saw an 18-point advantage gobbled up in the final quarter against the Wallabies in Melbourne, only to be rescued by a bizarre late penalty switch that provided an unlikely escape route, and were also outplayed over the run home by the Argentines in Christchurch en route to their historic win.

Even the previous weekend against Scotland they saw an early 14-0 lead quickly gobbled up by the hosts and found themselves in a tight spot over the closing stages, only for Mark Telea’s late try to seal an unconvincing 31-23 victory.

Once again the All Blacks mixed the excellent with the excruciating as they dominated the English for large swathes of a test they seemed in little danger of coughing up. But when the tide turned against them late, there was a telling inability to right the ship as it headed towards the rocks.