All Blacks coach Ian Foster has praised the belief and patience of his men as they signed off their 2020 season with a runaway 38-0 victory over Argentina in Newcastle.
The five-try shutout, with the bonus point, put the All Blacks into the box seat on the Tri-Nations standings, with the winner of next week’s finale between the Wallabies and Pumas requiring the full complement to force a points countback. Otherwise, the New Zealanders will tuck away the Tri-Nations trophy alongside the Bledisloe Cup to conclude a campaign that has netted three victories, two defeats and a draw.
There was no doubting the relief, and satisfaction, of the embattled All Blacks coach post-match as he reflected on a performance that had a bigger degree of difficulty than the final scoreline suggested.
The New Zealanders led just 10-0 at halftime, despite an overwhelming territory and possession advantage, and it took them until the game’s final half-hour, when Ardie Savea, Will Jordan (two) and Patrick Tuipulotu ran in tries, to inflate the scoreline.
“They took a long time to break down,” Foster said after the game. “I loved the patience. We made them make a lot of tackles and in those conditions it paid a price and certainly the game opened up in the last quarter.”
Asked the most satisfying aspect of his team’s third victory in six appearances this season, Foster said he’d been rapt with the way his players had negotiated a difficult period after twin defeats in Brisbane and Parramatta.
“We didn’t lose belief in what we were doing,” said the coach. “This has been a big few weeks but the guys are still determined to play and I felt we got the formula right today.
”They’re (Argentina) a proud team, they play with a lot of passion. It’s been a big few days for their country with the passing of an icon (Diego Maradona). We knew they would bring plenty of attitude, and we saw that in the first half.
“The loss two weeks ago still hurts, but tonight goes a long way to fixing that. We’ve got to remind ourselves we were playing for a trophy today and we’ll see what happens next week.”
Foster also had praise for the contributions of starting No 6 Akira Ioane and supersub Jordan. Ioane put in a big shift at flanker (31m on 9 runs, 7 tackles made, 1 missed) as one of three changes to the pack, and Jordan bust the game open late with that brace of tries.
“Akira should be really proud of his game. It was his second start, but his first full game (he played 65 minutes). I thought he showed he really wants to be here.”
And on Jordan: “Isn’t he great at picking up plums – he does it brilliantly well. It was the end result of a lot of defensive pressure. We had scoreboard pressure on them and I thought our defensive line came up a lot better today, and we took advantage of that.”
All Blacks skipper Sam Cane said the results was “extremely satisfying”.
“We felt the pain of the loss (in Parramatta). I’m incredibly proud of the work the team put in the last two weeks. The scoreboard probably doesn’t reflect the first 60 minutes, and Will Jordan has the uncanny ability to get the ball in open space. It was awesome for him to come on and have such an impact.
“I’m proud of the way we were able to stay patient,” added Cane of the desperate defence shown by the Pumas who attempted 175 tackles to just 49 by the New Zealanders. “We didn’t allow that to frustrate us. We stayed patient and we got there in the end.”
Cane said the two weeks since the defeat at Bankwest had been “tough”, but added: “That’s what playing for the All Blacks is all about … the group has stuck tight, it’s been a happy group, very driven, and we’ve worked extremely hard to try and get better. I thought we were a lot better tonight.”
And now the All Blacks head home for two weeks of border isolation. Or, as Foster described it, with a wry smile, “home to jail now”.
