Foster hails ‘ugly’ All Blacks win

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Coach Ian Foster said the All Blacks’ fightback to beat the Wallabies on Saturday was “a good lesson” and showed that New Zealand are on track to challenge for the World Cup.

New Zealand surged back from 17-3 down at half time, snatching 23-20 victory in Dunedin with a 79th-minute penalty goal to Richie Mo’unga to make it four Test wins from four in 2023.

Just a week after crushing the Wallabies 38-7 in Melbourne to retain the Bledisloe Cup, an error-prone All Blacks were outplayed in the first half.

They needed tries to two debutants – winger Shaun Stevenson and flanker Samipeni Finau – to get back into the contest before flyhalf Mo’unga landed his winning penalty shot from 35m out.

Foster’s men had cruised through the Rugby Championship, posting healthy wins over Argentina, South Africa and Australia to extend their unbeaten run to 11 Tests.

RECAP: All Blacks fightback floors Wallabies

The veteran coach said a team featuring 12 starting changes from last week would have learned a lot from being pushed close, five weeks out from the World Cup in France.

“Not every lesson’s a bad lesson. This lesson’s a good one,” he said. “We certainly put ourselves in a hole and the Aussies put us there.

“I love the confidence we’ll get out of winning a Test that looked like it might go the other way.

“As long as I’ve been here, most years have had Tests like that. When you’ve had a great year, it’s because you’ve had a couple of ugly wins that you’re pretty proud of. We’ll take it. ”

It was a heartbreaking result but an encouraging performance from the Wallabies, who remain winless under Eddie Jones since he returned this year for his second stint in charge.

A vastly inexperienced side, led by new captain Tate McDermott, crossed for two tries in the first seven minutes and threatened to produce a first win over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil since 2001.

Jones was encouraged by his team’s progress after losing all three Rugby Championship Tests:”We don’t want to forget this feeling today. We’ve got devastated men in there but if we learn from it, it’s going to be the most potent lesson.

“As much as I hate New Zealand rugby, I’ve got great admiration for the way they keep at it, they keep playing, they stay hard in the contest.”

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP

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