“No Regrets” Says Foster After Sydney Loss
All Blacks coach Ian Foster’s position on his side’s 24-22 loss in the second Test of the 2020 Tri Nations is one of “no regrets”.
Foster made several significant changes to the All Blacks squad following their landslide 43-5 win in Sydney last weekend – trying out new combinations ranging from who got to hold the keys to the attack, to who got to show their steel playing their first caps. Owing however to a determined Wallabies side playing for revenge first and glory second, just about nothing went as planned for the red and yellow cards-stunned New Zealand side.
The All Blacks coach during an interview on Sunday appeared completely unphased by the criticism he said he fully expected to follow the weekend’s wobble. What’s more, he declared himself more than willing to “take one on the chin”. Since this particular tour was right from the start focused on giving people opportunities to play, Foster said going along with the program meant necessarily going out on a limb and pretty much playing a game of “wait and see”.
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Even so – notwithstanding his earlier position of being willing to bare the brunt of trial and error – Foster didn’t exactly emerge free of feeling frustrated with the general lack of cohesion and discipline overall. Being afforded an opportunity means realising the importance of showing one’s self deserving of that opportunity, explained the New Zealand coach, which is something he clearly considers the squad to have failed dismally at pulling off.
Chances are we’ll see an Ian Foster not quite as willing to “take one on the chin” come the weekend’s game against Argentina.
