{"id":321439,"date":"2023-08-05T08:35:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-05T08:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=321439"},"modified":"2023-08-05T08:58:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T08:58:25","slug":"nervous-all-blacks-coach-explains-great-escape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=321439","title":{"rendered":"'Nervous' All Blacks coach explains great escape"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Blacks coach Ian Foster \ufeffadmitted New Zealand were "nervous" at halftime after the Wallabies had bossed them around<\/a> for a 17-3 lead in Dunedin on Saturday.<\/p>\n

But debutants \ufeffSamipeni Finau and Shaun Stevenson scored crucial second-half tries before Richie Mo'unga's clutch penalty as the All Blacks posted a 23-20 win.<\/a><\/p>\n

Foster had taken a risk by making 12 changes to his starting XV and the Wallabies were at one stage on track for their first win over the All Blacks in New Zealand since 2001.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 Rugby World Cup and Summer Nations Series on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/em><\/strong> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"All<\/p>\n

"They were up for the game and we perhaps were missing a little early. Off that, they played a lot of phases and we got passive," Foster said at Forsyth Barr Stadium.<\/p>\n

"We just weren't coming up as we needed to defensively. They are big powerful men, and if you let them get in behind and you ride them in the tackle, they're an absolute handful. They bent us on the edges, and that caused the problems."<\/p>\n

The Wallabies stunned the All Blacks with two tries in the first seven minutes and had the majority of possession in the first half while the All Blacks worked off scraps.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\ufeff<\/strong> Wallabies coach Eddie Jones makes massive Rugby World Cup call<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> All Blacks break Wallabies hearts with clutch kick sealing comeback<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Gutted' Wallabies blow big lead as All Blacks claim 2-0 series win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Aaron<\/p>\n

Hard running, good offloads, and quick work at the breakdown also had the All Blacks on the back foot through most of the half.<\/p>\n

Halfback Tate McDermott was influential in his first match as Wallabies captain.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks were forced to make more than 100 tackles, the Wallabies barely a third as many.<\/p>\n

\"Hooper<\/p>\n

But the second half belonged to the All Blacks, who are now 4-0 in 2023 while Australia slumps to 0-4.<\/p>\n

"We were second best by some distance in that first half," Foster admitted.<\/p>\n

"They threw a lot at us, and to come back and show a lot of composure under that scoreboard pressure and to squeeze them and win in the last few minutes is a great lesson for this team.<\/p>\n

\"Millimetre<\/p>\n

"In a Test match, you've got to play to the end and we did that and found ways to squeeze them. I could see it unfolding after halftime, but, wow, we were put under a lot of pressure early on. It was a bit nervous at halftime, but the upside of it is we came through it. Some of the new guys played better in the second half, and that was a good sign too."<\/p>\n

Mo'unga settled the All Blacks after a first half in which Damian McKenzie too often kicked away possession.<\/p>\n

New Zealand also ran on a new front row and that made a major difference.<\/p>\n

\"Richie<\/p>\n

The All Blacks had struggled in set pieces in the first half but dominated in the second when their discipline also was markedly better.<\/p>\n

Foster will name his Rugby World Cup squad in Napier on Monday.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"We made a lot of changes and the overall objective was to win this Test, but also get the squad to the start line of the World Cup in a good space," Foster explained.<\/p>\n

\"Braydon<\/p>\n

"If we didn't do this the way we did, the danger was we have players in the squad who wouldn't have played a serious Test match for 8-9 weeks.<\/p>\n

"We started this year with three great Tests in a row. This week certainly wasn't a great test from the scoreboard side. But I think it was a step forward in terms of digging ourselves out of a hole. We all know it wasn't perfect, but we'll take it."<\/p>\n

\"Shaun<\/p>\n

Australia took some heart from their improved performance.<\/p>\n

"Credit to the All Blacks and the way they came out in the second half," McDermott said.<\/p>\n

"It was a tough one. We got touched up last week in all areas but that first half showed what sort of team we can be. We just have to play longer than 40 minutes."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All Blacks coach Ian Foster \ufeffadmitted New Zealand were "nervous" at halftime after the Wallabies had bossed them around for a 17-3 lead in Dunedin […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":321422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=321439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321443,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321439\/revisions\/321443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/321422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=321439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}