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“This role always comes with pressure and what I feel now is a great disappointment for not having achieved what I wanted to achieve in the last two games.”
New Zealand coach Ian Foster watches during a training session in Auckland on October 16, 2020 ahead of the second Bledisloe Cup rugby union match. Image: AFP.
SYDNEY – All Blacks coach Ian Foster on Saturday denied he felt additional pressure after New Zealand was surprised by Argentina at the Tri Nations, leaving him with just two wins out of five since taking office.
The three-time world champions were expected to face a team they had not lost once in their previous 29 encounters, but felt embarrassed 25-15 in Sydney.
They were their first straight losses since 2011 after falling 24-22 to the Wallabies last week.
“This role always comes with pressure and what I feel right now is a huge disappointment for not having achieved what I wanted to achieve in the last two games,” Foster said.
“We have a lot of good people in this group and we have shown that we can perform at a high level and we have to go back and show that we can do it again.”
He replaced Steve Hansen after last year’s World Cup in Japan, but his reign so far has been riddled with inconsistencies.
After a 16-16 draw against Australia in his first game, he oversaw two wins against the Wallabies before the last two losses.
Foster admitted that Argentina had more passion and was the best team, despite playing their first test since the World Cup and struggling with preparations interrupted by the coronavirus.
“We are all suffering there. It has been a tremendously difficult year for all of us, but when it comes to the game, we prepared well, but we found a team that had too much passion for us and we have to solve it.” ” he said.
“There are no excuses.
“We had two very similar teams but with contrasting constructions … but it’s an All Blacks jersey and we want to be at our best every time, but today there were two contrasting intensity levels between the teams.”
The last time the All Blacks lost twice in a row was in 2011, against South Africa and Australia.
When asked how he felt about supervising the first team in nine years to score back-to-back losses, Foster replied, “You can tell from my body language I’m not excited.
They will face Argentina again on November 28.
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