Foster happy with hitout
All told, a positive day out for Ian Foster’s All Blacks in Washington.
The brand got a valuable polish in front of the influential American audience and the coach settled on a few important selections for the serious stuff ahead.
Foster wore a largely contented visage in the aftermath of the All Blacks’ record 104-14 annihilation of the US at FedEx Field yesterday. His team flexed its muscle and showcased its hustle in mostly impressive fashion as it ran in 16 tries (and forced a monster 52 missed tackles) to lay bare the enormous gulf between the Americans and the level of rugby they aspire to. That box was ticked.
And individually Foster saw what he needed to from ‘‘three or four’’ contenders on show, pushing for places in the top lineup to face Wales in Cardiff in a week’s time.
However, he wasn’t keen to reveal their names, but you wouldn’t be a million miles off if you pondered the cases of the likes of Richie Mo’unga, Dalton Papalii, Luke Jacobson and Will Jordan, as well as multi-faceted hooker Dane Coles. You can take it as read that restored tour skipper Sam Whitelock will be ushered straight back into the first-choice second row alongside his old mate Brodie Retallick.
‘‘It’s immense use to us,’’ said Foster of a match in which his team had 1164 running metres to 214, beat 52 defenders, mustered 23 clean breaks and flicked out 17 offloads. ‘‘This game was vital in terms of a number of players who hadn’t played for 3-4 weeks. It was a great chance for a really good hitout, and to do it in a special stadium and on a special occasion is pretty valuable.
‘‘We go to Wales next week, we’ve had a bit of contact under our belt, we’re delighted with some of the skill stuff we were able to put on the park and it gives us a good launching pad for what is going to be a big month.
‘‘As selectors we went into this game looking at three or four positions specifically ... I’m not going to say [what they were]. I was really pleased with the performance of the team overall, but there were some players who showed they want to play and that was exciting for us.’’
It was all too easy, too pressurefree, but Mo’unga logged 59 quality minutes with his dancing feet on display, not to mention his deadly boot (he slotted 9 of 12 conversions), leaving Foster an impossibly tight call between he and Beauden Barrett as his starting No 10 to face Wales.
Papalii and Jacobson both put in quality shifts to enhance their status as cast-iron loose trio contenders for Cardiff, Jordan ran for a team-high 166 metres, while Coles showed enough in his halfhour off to demonstrate he’s up for a similar role next week.
Braydon Ennor, Fin Christie and Ethan de Groot all logged promising first test starts, while big Josh Lord came off the pine for the last 22 minutes to chalk up a memorable All Blacks debut. The young midfield of Quinn Tupaea (162m on the run) and Ennor offered a tantalising glimpse at the future, while Christie’s sharp work at halfback underscored the depth now on tap at No 9.
Asked what the US would have made of such a ritual dismantling, Foster showed he is also somewhat of a diplomat.
‘‘In that third quarter they showed a lot more of what they can do. I know they’ll be disappointed, but if they use that well it could be a launch pad for things to come.’’
Content all round. Next stop Cardiff.