The All Blacks thump Argentina 39 - 0 at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast. Video / Sky Sport
Ian Foster kept a firm lid on enthusiasm but was quietly chuffed with the wide-ranging growth the All Blacks displayed in their seventh straight win this year.
Sunday's 39-0 shutout of the Pumas on the Gold Coast maintained the All Blacks' pole position in the Rugby Championship following a thirdbonus-point victory.
Claiming five tries, and holding the Pumas scoreless, were obvious ticks but it was the nature of the performance that pleased Foster – the way the All Blacks forward pack continues to own the collisions and the collective attacking composure that shone through, particularly in the first half.
While Rieko Ioane struck early the All Blacks had to wait until just before halftime to claim their next two tries. During that time, they squandered several chances but never became flustered.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster after the side's win over Argentina. Photosport
As was the case in their maiden upset of the All Blacks last year in Sydney the Pumas did everything within their power to slow the ball by laying in the ruck and making a mess of contestable possession.
This is exactly where the All Blacks failed to stay the course last year. This time, though, they remain calm, and points eventually came to build a commanding 22-0 halftime lead.
"Pretty clinical and patient would be the words I'd use," Foster said. "They're not adjectives you'd usually use to describe an All Blacks win but I'm delighted with it. If you look at their track record they're a hard team to score tries against; they know their defensive system pretty well and they're willing to go to whatever lengths they can to stop you getting a flow on.
"I like the fact we stuck to what we were doing, we made them make a lot of tackles, and ultimately got some really good reward on the scoreboard so overall very happy.
"The series in South Africa the Springboks found it hard to score tries against them and built their scores in threes so I liked our patience.
"Sometimes in the past we can get distracted when we get slowed down or things don't work so we're trying to build a bit of resilience in that space.
"Even things like Brodie [Retallick] deciding to take the three and go from seven to 10 points was a really good decision to keep building scoreboard pressure."
With each passing test the All Blacks are proving they are a different beast to last year when they finished 2020 with a 50 per cent win record in a Covid-affected season.
Members of the All Blacks react to the big win over Argentina on the Gold Coast. Photosport
Given this emphatic result it's easy to forget the depth the All Blacks are building. Richie Mo'unga, Sam Whitelock, Ardie Savea, Aaron Smith, Dane Coles, Codie Taylor, Ofa Tuungafasi and Anton Lienert-Brown all missed this test yet the All Blacks barely missed a beat.
Despite their attacking limitations the Pumas presented a vastly different challenge to the Wallabies, and the All Blacks adjusted seamlessly which left Retallick, captaining the All Blacks for the first time, glowing from the experience.
"The last few weeks against the Wallabies we've scored a lot of long-range tries and in particular the game in Perth there was a lot of running," Retallick said. "Today we had to break them down – we made them make a lot of tackles and also the battle around the set piece.
"Although we gave away a few penalties at scrum time, our maul we built some pressure there and it ended with a yellow card so we can be proud of what we did around the front."
The All Blacks forced the Pumas to make 199 tackles, such was their dominance. When it was their turn to defend the All Blacks made 92 per cent of their tackles (108/117) to underline their attitude and commitment to dominate the physical exchanges in recent weeks.
"I felt our defence looked really strong," Foster said. "At set piece time we gave them a lot of really poor quality ball and our defence was strong and aggressive at times. It wasn't perfect but we imposed ourselves and I felt quite safe watching them have the ball. It felt we were pretty secure so we're making some good steps in that space. The key is we're actually enjoying the defence side of it."
Foster brushed aside suggestions last year's shock upset ensures the All Blacks are now on edge when facing the Pumas. After fashioning a 77-0 ledger since, they sure appear to have turned a significant corner.
"You can't linger on the past just like we didn't linger on the last 38-0 in the last game we played them. It's all about the here and now. We know facts will get chucked at us all the time but this group is about paving its own path through this tournament we've got some pretty clear objectives we want to get out of it.
"We've done a lot of work on the Argentinians and what they've been delivering this year and largely they've been impressive defensively so I'm pleased with the way we went about it. That bodes well for what's still a long year in front of us."
