All Black Head Coach Ian Foster. Photo / Getty Images.
OPINION:
Congratulations Ireland.
Johnny Sexton's side created rugby history in what was a wonderful three-test series.
The Green Machine blew the All Blacks away with pinpoint, muscular and clever rugby.
Even their midweek team got better along the way, against the Māori All Blacks, on a triumphant tour for coach Andy Farrell and his staff.
Ireland's test series win on New Zealand soil showed they are on the right path as the World Cup looms, and could also set the All Blacks in a better direction as it happens.
If only the NZR would swallow its pride.
Here are 13 observations from the All Blacks' loss:
1) There is no excuse for not replacing All Blacks coach Ian Foster right now
The All Blacks are playing way below the standards expected of them. The results under Foster are awful. Foster has no record of success as a head coach.
And in Scott Robertson and Joe Schmidt, there are two great coaches available to take over, perhaps in tandem somehow.
Having Schmidt as a selector, assisting Foster, is like getting Eric Clapton to play the castanets for Ed Sheeran. What a waste.
This is the NZR moment to get real and desperate, throw away the shackles of the past.
The time is now, to give the new coaches a good run at preparing a World Cup team.
The surge of public support would be amazing. There would be whole new energy around the game. This new energy may even embolden the All Blacks.
Right now, the All Blacks are trudging towards disaster.
2) When a strength becomes a weakness
New Zealand rugby has a serious superiority complex, and sometimes it works.
All Black arrogance, epitomised by the demeanour of people like former coach Steve Hansen and former ironman CEO Steve Tew, has an intimidatory element that can breed confidence and steamroll opponents.
But it can also encourage the rot to set in because the organisation becomes weighed down by past success, and can't move ahead in a dynamic way.
And it starts to think that all the answers lie in a smaller and smaller inner circle.
New Zealand Rugby still feels as if it is run by grey men in dark suits who operate in the shadows.
And the NZR is particularly susceptible to smug thinking because it reigns supreme in this country's sports marketplace, and even discourages competition within its own game.
There was this feeling that powerful figures, like the outgoing Hansen and Tew, couldn't let go and wanted one big final say - the validation of their own work via the appointment of Foster.
The NZR couldn't see that the time was up for Hansen's regime, that the master coach had lost his touch, that those around him weren't up to the job anymore.
The truth was staring them in the face. They had amazing replacement options. They absolutely blew it.
3) It's no fun kicking a dog when it is down, BUT…
I've criticised the Foster appointment from the outset and it gets to a point where continuing to do so feels unhealthy. But what can you do?
Foster has got to his position by being a company man, not by proving his chops on the world stage.
From what I understood, he was protected as an underperforming Chiefs coach, so he could be elevated when Steve Hansen became All Black coach.
Graham Henry, Hansen, Schmidt and a raft of other Kiwis headed around the world to hone their craft and prove what they could do.
Scott Robertson continues to win trophies in charge of the Crusaders, a team that couldn't nail titles before he took over.
There is a world of difference between the head coach and assistant roles.
4) What can you do to help encourage the NZR to sack Foster?
Send an email. March in the street. Ring talkback radio.
Going on past evidence rest assured - New Zealand Rugby will ignore you.
5) Ardie Savea and the captaincy
Before the third test, I still thought it best to leave Savea to his own devices as the lightweight (by world test standards) loose forward wrecking ball.
There is explosiveness to Savea's game that can inspire those around him. He was brilliant in Wellington.
Sam Whitelock is the other option, but even that feels like something of a tired choice.
Sam Cane is just not cutting it.
6) This was particularly baffling
Why did Foster and co. leave Will Jordan on the bench in the second test? What kind of muddled thinking produces a selection decision like that?
Jordan is a rising star of world rugby, perhaps the only one we've got.
7) The question on everybody's lips
Why do the All Blacks keep kicking the ball away? We're supposed to be the home of creative, ball-in-hand rugby. Giving the ball to Ireland all the time was asking for trouble.
8) Prop problems
The All Black props still aren't up to it and - unlike other positions - solutions are hard to find.
9) Richie Mo'unga is the future
His defence is a bit of a worry, although he produced a great try-saving tackle in Wellington.
Beauden Barrett is a terrific footballer, but Mo'unga's ability to unlock the All Blacks' potential - to get them ahead of the game again - is more extreme.
10) Ireland are already playing like it's the World Cup
The Irish were so well coordinated.
A few errors near the All Blacks goal line obscured just how many scoring chances they created in the first test at Eden Park.
They actually put three great performances together which bodes extremely well for their World Cup chances.
11) Who stood out?
Giant hooker Dan Sheehan, who is just 23, had a fantastic series. What a prospect.
12) The tears were great
The outpouring of emotion amongst the Irish touring parting on the sidelines was fantastic.
13) Head clashes are frightening…take it from this man
The relatively young former Welsh test forward Ryan Jones, aged just 41, is the latest player to reveal he has early-onset dementia.
There were a couple of horrific head-on-head clashes in this series, the latest resulting in Brodie Retallick being forced out of the third test.
The players themselves need to realise it is up to them to drastically alter techniques, and I wish the TV commentators would stress the safety aspect more, instead of often debating whether cards were justified or not.
Back to Jones.
He said rugby is "walking headlong with its eyes closed into a catastrophic situation".
Knowing what he now knows, Jones said he actually would change the past if he could.
In a remarkable interview with The Times, he said: "I feel like my world is falling apart.
"Every episode I have also leaves a bit of a legacy. Everything we cancel, every relationship that I poison or don't have time for anymore, just makes it a little bit tougher to cope.
"I don't know how to slow that down, make it stop, what to do. I am really scared."
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