No wiggle room over niggle for All Blacks

An edict from World Rugby to referees could create headaches for the All Blacks as they brace for more niggle from Argentina in Newcastle tomorrow night.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster, having made three changes to the side that started in the historic 25-15 loss to the Pumas in Sydney on November 14, expects his players to, once again, be needled by their opponents but is adamant that they can’t get sucked into retaliating.

The Pumas, as they did during the 15-15 draw with the Wallabies last weekend, got stuck into the All Blacks in their earlier TriNations encounter both on and off the ball.

And the All Blacks paid the price. Blindside flanker Shannon Frizell, replaced by Akira Ioane for the rematch, and hooker Dane Coles both gave away penalties as the All Blacks tumbled to their first defeat to the South Americans.

Now World Rugby has waded in, telling the refs that anyone who gives more than he just received should be the one singled out for punishment.

Foster, desperate to prevent a string of three consecutive defeats, learned about World Rugby’s instruction after speaking to the referees in recent days.

‘‘World Rugby has come out, apparently, in the last week and said if the retaliation is at a level above what the initial prodding is, then the retaliator is going to get penalised,’’ Foster said.

‘‘From them, that is reasonably clear. The problem with that strategy is that it just keeps encouraging people for little wee cheap shots and trying to provoke you.’’

Foster said off-the-ball tactics has ‘‘almost been a feature of this tournament’’, and that the All Blacks have received several apologies from the refs after games. Yet he won’t be allowing his men to get the first shot in tomorrow night; Foster urged the All Blacks to maintain selfcontrol and be disciplined.

Past All Blacks teams have been good enough to rise above the grubby stuff, usually blasting opponents off the park with a fast

‘‘The problem with that strategy is that it just keeps encouraging people for little wee cheap shots and trying to provoke you.’’ Ian Foster on World Rugby’s new guidelines on retaliation

paced tempo; quick ball, combined with high fitness levels, has done the trick.

The Pumas are likely to do anything they can to stop that; in a bygone era, well before television cameras captured everything, anyone who dared grab an All Black’s jersey or abused him risked receiving a thick ear.

Those days, thankfully, are gone. But if the All Blacks were to assume the role of protagonist, then maybe they would force the Pumas into retaliating and giving away a penalty.

Yet Foster doubled down on his belief that he wants a clean rap sheet. It won’t be happening.

‘‘We saw a team that got distracted by it last time [in Sydney] and it was wearing a black jersey.

‘‘We have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.’’

Foster, who has inserted Scott Barrett into the second row and relegated Patrick Tuipulotu to the bench and also given Nepo Laulala his No 3 jersey back, wants his forwards to be gnarly without giving ref Nic Berry something to pick up on.

Given the Pumas’ recent successes, a win and draw has been beyond their expectations, Foster knows they won’t be changing their spoiling tactics just because World Rugby has come out swinging.