All Blacks head coach Ian Foster. Photo / Photosport
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster. Photo / Photosport
OPINION
Five talking points from the historic 25-18 defeat of the All Blacks by the Pumas in Christchurch.
No change?
The media and online hounds will be unleashed this week, but no matter what levels the invective against Ian Foster reaches, it's likely to ultimately be as pointless as aBrian Tamaki rally.
During the week Stewart Mitchell, the chairman of the New Zealand Rugby board, swore the board had voted unanimously to keep Foster as All Blacks coach. For board members to now change their minds about supporting him would require a swallowing of pride never seen before in the sport in this country.
If there's to be any change there seem to be only two possible windows, either after the Bledisloe Cup test in Auckland on September 24, or after the end-of-year northern tour.
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster. Photo / Photosport
Shell shocked
This wasn't the most emotionally devastating All Black loss I've seen.
That dubious honour belongs to the 2007 World Cup quarter-final defeat by France, when referee Wayne Barnes froze, and so did the All Blacks, and there were some fans crying in the street in Cardiff.
But what made the test in Christchurch such a melancholy gut-wrenching experience was that the game itself was garbage. In the second half the All Blacks didn't have the composure to mount exciting attacks, and the Pumas, dominating the breakdowns, and winning kickable penalties, didn't have the desire to run the ball.
Unless you were born in Buenos Aires or Mendoza, this test was up there with Greco-Roman wrestling as a mogadon-level viewing experience.
Add in, for a New Zealand rugby tragic, the feeling in the final 10 minutes that schoolboy errors, not steely-eyed efficiency, would be the last memories of the All Blacks you'd take from the game, and it's little wonder wandering away from the ground the look on most fans' faces was bewilderment.
A dejected Sam Cane of the All Blacks after losing to Argentina. Photosport
Stepping up to the tee
Oddly, in the drama of their historic win, the remarkable goal-kicking of Argentina's wing, Emiliano Boffelli, who kicked six penalties goals and one conversion, almost faded into the background.
He was sensational. There was the stunning power of a 50-metre penalty in the 36th minute that had so much length to spare it would have been successful if the posts had been 60 metres away, and the precision of his wide angled conversion of flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez's try seven minutes into the second half.
The All Blacks could have put the game out of reach in the first half, scoring two tries to none. But thanks to Boffelli the Pumas were only 15-12 down at the break, and the best for them was still to come.
The ABs needed more of their man of the match
All Blacks hooker Samisoni Taukei'aho has been the find of the season, so the decision after just 44 minutes, to sub him, along with his two starting props, felt weird at the time, and wrong by the end of the game.
Taukei'aho was one All Black able to make some ground against what Caleb Clarke would call "the brick wall" of the Pumas defensive line.
They really were excited
Until I arrived at the ground, I was pretty cynical about media reports that Christchurch was "buzzing" about finally have a test match again.
But walking in behind the south stand there was excitement in the air, whether from primary school-aged kids with parents or grey-haired fans swathed in Crusader scarves.
And then, throughout the game, one thing the All Blacks didn't lack was crowd support. Suggestions Canterbury fans wouldn't cheer on a team not coached by Scott Robertson proved to be false.
