All Blacks coach Ian Foster said his team needed to be better at keeping their composure late in matches after they lost to Argentina on home soil for the first time in Christchurch on Saturday. Traditionally strong finishers, New Zealand looked to have the game in the bag when Richie Mo’unga gave them an 18-12 lead eight minutes into the second half, only for the Pumas to turn over the restart and score a try on their way to a 25-18 win.
“We conceded that try at the kickoff, a bit fortunate, and after that they grew an arm and a leg, and we probably got perhaps a little bit flustered,” he said. “So we’ve got to look at our composure in the latter stages, particularly with the bench coming on, and we’ve just got to make sure we’re a little bit more ruthless at the breakdown.”
It was the fourth time in six games this season that Foster has been forced to explain a defeat for a team that has traditionally only had one or two a year. Foster said the Pumas ability to turn over the ball at the breakdown, and the refereeing of the tackle area, had been a key factor in the loss.
“Congratulations to Argentina, they kept true to how they wanted to play, they really frustrated us,” he added. “We didn’t get what we wanted at the breakdown. We had large periods of dominance in our set piece but that didn’t go well at the end.
“But overall they got away with some stuff at the breakdown and we weren’t able to deal with it.” Foster has endured a torrent of criticism this year after New Zealand lost their July series to Ireland and their Rugby Championship opener in South Africa.
It was only after the victory in Johannesburg two weeks ago that he was confirmed in his job through to next year’s World Cup. The reigning tournament champions have the chance to make immediate amends when they face the Pumas in Hamilton next week and Foster said there were some positives to take out of Saturday’s match.
“We’ve got to look at the dominance we got in the first two thirds of the game, particularly at lineout and scrum time,” he said. “But just a little bit of discipline and some frustration and that’s a key thing they play on.”
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