All Blacks coach Ian Foster called his team’s crushing 53-3 bonus-point victory over Argentina on Saturday “ruthless” as New Zealand bounced back from their first-ever loss on home soil against the South Americans last week.
Foster picked the same line-up for the comprehensive win in Hamilton as had been defeated by the Pumas in Christchurch a week earlier and he remains convinced his side are on the right track ahead of next year's World Cup.
“It was a big week for us, we had to respond,” said Foster. “I thought we did it in a ruthless manner which I’m delighted with. There were a number of questions with putting the same group out again but we really believe in the direction we’re going.”
The win takes the defending champions into pole position in a tightly-packed Rugby Championship table, one point ahead of Australia, South Africa and the Argentines with two matches remaining.
The All Blacks face Australia in back-to-back clashes on September 15th and 24th in Melbourne and Auckland respectively with the title still on the line.
“This Championship is important to us and we put ourselves into a bit of a hole last week,” Foster said. “We had to respond and do what we did. To walk away with a bonus point and a big points differential in a tight competition, at least it keeps us in the race.
“We’re going to need two good performances to have a chance at this Championship. All we’ve done is put ourselves back into contention. We’ve worked hard to get our game to where we want it to be. It hasn’t happened at the speed we’d like but we saw signs of that.”
Foster was pleased with how his players, and in particular under-fire captain Sam Cane, responded.
“There’s no doubt the team has felt a whole lot of different pressure,” he said. “I’m proud of the way the guys hung in there and [didn’t get] tight under the pressure and played with ambition.
“I’m particularly proud of [Cane] for his week. He’s been under the pump from various quarters but I thought he might’ve answered a few questions too.”
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi, meanwhile, is targeting a more consistent run of results for the Springboks.
The reigning world champions picked up their second win of the campaign on Saturday against Australia in Sydney to leave them in third place in the table.
“The thing is everybody wants consistency. We want to stay near the top the whole time but it’s hard,” said Kolisi. “Some teams perform one week and some teams don’t perform. That’s what I think all the nations are looking for, that consistency every week.
“You can see now what’s happening, every single team is standing up and I think it’s brilliant for rugby because you never know which team is going to win on the day.”
Two early tries put the South Africans in control against Australia in Sydney, a week after allowing the Wallabies to open up an unassailable advantage before several late scores narrowed the margin of defeat in Adelaide.
“Last week there was nothing different to our performance or our game plan, we took the opportunities that we created today and that’s what we want to do each and every single time,” said Kolisi. “It will make our job so much easier, not to have to fight back the whole time.
“The fact that we could create those opportunities is encouraging, and the fact we could finish today was really good for us as a team, and it’s a good reminder that we can do it going forward.
“We must just keep on doing them, that’s all we want. Just being consistent and taking the opportunities when we create them.”
South Africa will face Argentina in their last two games in the competition later this month.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022
