The All Blacks have plenty to work on before next year's World Cup. Photo / Getty
The All Blacks have plenty to work on before next year's World Cup. Photo / Getty
OPINION:
Phil Gifford presents his five talking points from Ireland's historic 32-22 victory over the All Blacks in Wellington.
The last chance saloon
As enraged fans flood the All Blacks' Facebook page, demanding the sacking of Ian Foster, I'd suggest New Zealand Rugby won't be firing him so early inthe season.
For a start, to do so would be to admit they made a mistake in 2019 when after the World Cup in Japan they chose Foster ahead of Scott Robertson. Mea culpa is not a phrase often heard from rugby officials.
It's true the series defeat to Ireland was a devastating blow because unlike last year, when the All Blacks had to live through what amounted to not weeks but months of Covid MIQ conditions, they had everything on their side for the Irish series. The All Blacks were fresh. The tourists were coming at the end of an exhausting season of European club games, and the Six Nations.
But in three weeks' time there are two tests for the All Blacks against the Springboks in South Africa. After the lost Irish series what happens in South Africa may be the key issue as to whether Foster and his coaching team take the All Blacks to the 2023 World Cup.
The All Blacks have plenty to work on before next year's World Cup. Photo / Getty
Razor's options
If, God forbid, the All Blacks go down in South Africa and then lose the Bledisloe Cup, the public pressure to call on Robertson would surely be overwhelming.
But would asking Robertson to step in at crazily short notice be fair to him? He's not just an electrifying personality, but also a very shrewd selector. However, right now the All Blacks don't really, as they say, have the cattle. What dramatic changes are really available to him?
Will Jordan to fullback? Yes. David Havili and Jack Goodhue in the midfield, and Rieko Ioane to the wing? Quite probably. Richie Mo'unga at first-five? Probably. Cullen Grace at No 8? Yes.
And then a freshening up of the tight five, with all those huge, ferocious young locks and props from Super Rugby? Good luck with that.
Whether Robertson, Joe Schmidt or Foster is in charge next year, the harsh reality is that the All Blacks are at a crossroads, with veterans writing their last chapter and no huge mob of vibrant young talent coming down the track.
Be afraid
Ireland deserve all the praise they're getting.
They won the series because they were better organised, smarter, stronger and more passionate. When a grizzled veteran like flanker Peter O'Mahony is in tears after the final whistle in Wellington you see how much emotion they brought to the field.
But if you're an All Blacks fan, brace yourself, because here's the really bad news: Ireland are not the best team in Europe, the French are. Ireland are the next best, but if the No 2 team from the north can clean us up, how daunting does the All Blacks' opening game of the World Cup in Paris on September 8 next year look?
Johnny Sexton produced a masterclass against the All Blacks. Photo / Getty
Man of the match
There were many candidates in the Irish side, but for the influence he wields I can't go past their captain and first-five, Johnny Sexton. The man's 37 years old, but his reflexes look as sharp as they did when he first played for Ireland in 2009.
He runs the show with such cool calculation you'd swear he was directing things from the safety of the coaches' box, not in the dangerous turmoil of a test match.
Wayne Barnes may be roasted by World Rugby for using common sense in showing a yellow, not a red card, to Irish prop Andrew Porter after a horrific, but accidental, head clash with Brodie Retallick.
If only Barnes, whose experience is matched by his backbone, had been refereeing in Dunedin a week earlier when Jaco Peyper followed the letter of the law, not his initial instinct or common sense, and red carded All Black Angus Ta'avao for an identical offence.
