Rugby

Ian Foster: ‘I thought Akira’s was a great try but the TMO didn’t’

All Blacks boss questions the officials while admitting his side were outplayed by Ireland

Ian Foster on the Aviva playing surface after full time. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho

Johnny Watterson's face
Johnny Watterson at the Aviva Stadium
Sat Nov 13 2021 - 19:25

A stoic Ian Foster gave credit to Ireland after the third win ever over the All Blacks in more than 100 years but hit some sour notes with the refereeing and TMO, especially in the second half of Ireland's 29-20 win.

Foster believed Ireland were time wasting and going down with injuries, which helped them play their fast high tempo game throughout the match against the world’s top ranked side.

“The game is supposed to be played fast,” said Foster. “There are times if someone is injured they get treatment and a certain window of time to fix it and if that time passes they go to the sideline.

“For the last 15 minutes there was a lot of stoppages and there was a lot of cramping . There was a lot of deliberate slowing the game down which was a bit frustrating.

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“It’s hard for refs to speed the game. Look, this is not a biggie for me but it was clearly a tactic and good on them for doing it because there was a lot of them going down with cramp. I don’t begrudge that but we got to make sure we keep the game ticking over.”

Foster also believed the try from Akira Ioane in the second half was a good one and deserved to count. After replays, the TMO ruled it out because of a forward pass.

“It clearly was a really, really marginal decision,” said Foster. “I thought Akira’s was a great try but the TMO didn’t and that’s probably the story of the game.”

Overall, Foster gave praise to the Irish side that he believed has added more ambition to the way they play. Accepting that New Zealand were not as good on the day, he also believed that Ireland’s ability to hold on to the ball and deny them good opportunities gave them the edge.

“They held the ball long periods,” said Foster. “I thought that we did really, really well in our defence hanging in there, frustrating them.

“We took our first two opportunities to score in a pretty clinical way. We were really hanging on the game in quite a nice position based on frustrating them a little bit. I thought they played a high tempo game that kept us chasing.

“At the end we just didn’t have the composure to take the opportunity we had presented to us and they just played a pressure game.”

New Zealand believed that after a first half where Ireland entirely dominated possession and territory, they had found themselves in a strong position. But despite the overwhelming dominance, Ireland trailed the match 5-10 at the break.

“I think they played hide the ball fairly well in that first half and you got to give Ireland credit for the way they held the ball for long periods,” said Foster.

“At the end of the first half I was delighted that, under the sheer weight of possession and territory, our defence stood up pretty strong against them. We conceded one try and got a yellow card but apart from that I thought we got through the hard time better and were in a reasonably good position.”

Captain Sam Whitelock agreed that Ireland’s ability to deny them the ball was a match winning formula.

“They hid the ball from us. We did get possession and control it but we just needed more of the ball. It’s hard in test matches when you are camped in your own 22,” said Whitelock.

“I thought we weathered that storm pretty well,” he added of the first 40 minutes. “We scored points early, but we had hoped to kick on, get in front and put some scoreboard pressure on them. But we didn’t finish they way we wanted to.”

Ian Foster