Ian Foster declined to discuss his future as All Blacks coach after overseeing New Zealand’s first home defeat in 27 years.
Foster’s tenure fell to a new low on Saturday when the All Blacks lost their series decider to Ireland 32-22 at Sky Stadium in Wellington.
The All Blacks have now lost four of their last five games under Foster’s watch, including consecutive home soil defeats.
The last time they lost in a row in New Zealand was in 1998 – before two of Saturday’s reserves, Folau Fakatava and Tupou Vaa’i, were born.
The last time the All Blacks lost a series at home? 1994.
Foster’s win rate has fallen to 66.7% (16 wins, 1 draw, 7 losses), but he avoided all questions about his future on the job by saying he only wanted to discuss the match in the immediate aftermath of a match in which small segments of the 35,890-strong crowd head for the exit with five minutes to play.
Foster has been signed for next year’s Rugby World Cup, but when asked if he was the best person to help the team move forward given their appalling run of results, he said: “I just want to talk about the test match”.
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All Blacks coach Ian Foster.
A New Zealand Rugby media manager intervened when Foster was asked if he even wanted to remain an All Blacks coach.
Foster said: “New Zealanders should probably realize that this was a very good Irish team” and emphasized that Andy Farrell’s team deserved their “time in the sun” after winning consecutive games to bring a famous series win to our team. coasts to reach.
The All Blacks were determined to come back from last weekend’s undisciplined defeat in Dunedin, which dropped them to fourth in the world rankings, but they trailed early on with Ireland’s Josh van der Flier who came within the top four. minutes scored.
Further attempts by Hugo Keenan and Robbie Henshaw gave Ireland a 22-3 lead at halftime, but the All Blacks fought back in the second half to get within five points by scoring two tries thanks to individual brilliance from Akira Ioane and Will Jordan when the tourists had fallen to 14 after a yellow card to support Andrew Porter.
Porter was sent to the sin box for 10 minutes after another sickening head-on collision with lock Brodie Retallick, a challenge that left Retallick with a broken cheekbone and forced him off the field.
Rob Herring scored three minutes after Jordan defeated three Irish defenders to push Ireland back to a two-figure lead, forcing the All Blacks to score two tries.
In the end, the All Blacks couldn’t recover from a slow start and Foster couldn’t explain why they got out of the blocks so slowly.
“We’re just not that calm for some reason,” he said.
“In the defensive area we get a little restless, there are a few holes and Ireland is not a team you can leave behind because then they play an up-tempo game.”
Foster took captain Sam Cane away with the game even with 15 minutes to go, but defended his decision to do so, saying the All Blacks needed “fresh legs”.
“We were just trying to keep the momentum going so it wasn’t a reflection on Sam or his leadership, we had just gained momentum and lost it again and felt we had to make a few adjustments.”
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck made his All Blacks debut in the second half, replacing Rieko Ioane in the final 10 minutes, but had no impact on the game.