Wounded ABs brace for Wales
With Jamie Joseph’s comments ringing in his ear, injuries and a potential suspension already biting deep, and his hot-and-cold team fresh off one of their frostier efforts of the year, All Blacks coach Ian Foster has plenty to ponder as he heads for another potential date with destiny in Wales.
The Welsh haven’t beaten the All Blacks in 69 years and are on a 32-game losing streak against the New Zealanders, but must be feeling pretty good about their prospects of ending that run of futility in this Sunday’s (4.15am kickoff) test at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Just as Ireland did in July, and Argentina in Christchurch during the Rugby Championship, Wayne Pivac’s men will fancy their chances of making some history against an All Blacks outfit they haven’t defeated since 1953. Certainly circumstances appear to be working in their favour as Foster’s men touch down for the first of three straight challenging UK dates to end their rather forgettable year.
Foster had a lot to unpack, even before getting on the plane from Tokyo to London, after an eventful stopover. His team continued its season-long inability to string quality performances together with a fumbling, bumbling 38-31 victory over Japan that was yet another sub-par effort from a side that has too many of them already this year.
They also lost skipper Sam Cane to a cheekbone fracture and backup hooker Dane Coles to another calf strain (Billy Harmon and Asafo Aumua coming in to replace them), and could see 99-test lock Brodie Retallick join them as he faces a date with the judiciary following his sending-off against Japan.
Allied to that star right wing Will Jordan remains in New Zealand as an inner ear problem has failed to clear in time to allow him to join the team in Wales. Mark Telea remains as wing cover.
Foster’s problem is that after a rusty and dusty performance in Tokyo, on the back of a monthlong break since the Rugby Championship wrapped up, he faces the prospect of something similar in Cardiff as he brings back a swag of frontliners who sat out Japan, including the Barrett brothers, Ardie Savea, Sam Whitelock, Rieko Ioane and Ethan de Groot.
Joseph was at his mischievous best after his team came roaring back from an early 21-3 deficit to score four tries and close to within 35-31 in the closing minutes. He said teams weren’t ‘‘scared’’ of the All Blacks any more and labelled his next opponents, England, a ‘‘better side’’. His Kiwi loose forward Michael Leitch added ‘‘cracks were showing’’ in the New Zealand makeup.
Foster shrugged off the myriad Tokyo failings as a combination of rust and new combinations, but admitted to some concerns ahead of departure for the UK.
‘‘There were some parts that weren’t up to our standards,’’ he conceded. ‘‘We scored 38 points with five nice tries, but our lineout didn’t function particularly well [with three lost throws] and in our transition defence we looked slow to move and not really connected. They’re a couple of critical areas we weren’t up to par.’’
He could have added aimless kicking, stilted attack and a lack of diligence to his concerns as the All Blacks forced their hosts to attempt 232 tackles, but allowed them to run for 478 metres, make nine clean breaks to five and cross their line four times.
Foster also did his best to shrug off Joseph’s telling criticism. ‘‘It’s nicely mischievous,’’ he said. ‘‘He’s obviously very happy with a close loss. He should be very proud of his team’s effort, but we’ll take the win and move on.’’
That will be to a Wales team that will be keen to claim another major southern scalp, after their historic victory in South Africa in July.