England's Owen Farrell and All Blacks head coach Ian Foster after the 25-25 draw. Photosport
By Liam Napier in London
The sun shone brightly on a crisp Autumn day as the All Blacks departed Teddington, their final stop on a wild season punctuated by historic lows, significant change and progress that threatens a rebirth.
As he reflected on a year in which he survived extreme public pressure to retain the head coach role, Ian Foster professed staunch optimism the All Blacks 2023 campaign will banish the dark clouds, despite the deflating draw to finish this turbulent season.
“Going into the next few months it’s clear we’ve got some areas to improve but we can go into next year with a bit of confidence,” Foster said.
For all the genuine improvement from the forward pack in particular, the lack of ruthlessness on display at Twickenham, the inconsistencies the All Blacks displayed too often this year and the fact they didn’t face Europe’s two best teams, Ireland and France, this November leaves nagging doubt about their credentials.
But for the final nine-minute collapse against England, when they conceded a yellow card and three tries to inexplicably blow a 19-point lead, the narrative could have flipped for the All Blacks.
Escape with a seventh win in a row, having beaten England up front on their home patch for much of the contest, and the All Blacks World Cup prospects transform from curious to a reformed sense of confidence.
Yet in those fraught closing stages the All Blacks were as flat as a warm Guinness, with the make up of their bench coming into sharp focus. As the final act, that is the enduring memory they leave.
“When you lose a game you blame the bench and when you win you praise them. Some of our bench did a good job but it’s always a collective. Sometimes when you’re under pressure and you’re struggling to find an answer having new players can disrupt that.”
Fine margins, indeed, which in many respects mirrors the competitiveness of the world’s top five nations at this juncture.
Foster is instead left to ponder his overall 68 per cent win record and a costly closing chapter that taints the complexion of the year.
“I don’t think head coaches are ever satisfied. It’s going to take me a while to get over that last 10 minutes. That’s not going to go away quick because wins here are special.
“There’s no denying that hurt us but I won’t spend summer fixated on that and not thinking about the good stuff.
“The perception and narrative are for other people to decide. Our job is to make sure we’re real and honest about that game.
“I’m probably a little bit more glass half full. We’ve gone through this tour unbeaten in many senses. We’ve got to learn that composure, there’s no doubt about that.
“We’ve got to learn the art of shutting down close games. And it’s not like we can’t do it - we’ve already done it this year. It just shows you’ve got to do it every time and that’s not the easiest thing to do.
“We finished the tour in a pretty strong place but there’s enough there to niggle away at us and we know we’ve got to move a bit for the World Cup.”
The All Blacks finish the year with eight wins, four losses, one draw. It’s a record that, in the context of their historical success, barely warrants a pass mark.
“Four of the losses were in the first six games. We’ve made some big strides since then. We beat every team that beat us so we’ve shown we can play at a high level and we’ve shown some growth.
“I try not to get caught up in the adjectives. There’s been periods of the year that were tough and we weren’t as good as we wanted to be. We’ve owned that. We don’t get stuck in the past. Our goal is to look forward.
“We have progressed. We’ve won most things we needed to win. Our top performance has been very good, but there’s been a few little glitches along the line we’ve got to tidy up.”
The heart of the All Blacks game has dramatically improved since Jason Ryan and Joe Schmidt were hastily injected to replace John Plumtree and Brad Mooar in late July. The scrum, direct driving play, maul attack and defence set the tone against England to offer a pointer to the platform they must continue to set against the hefty European and South African packs.
“We’ve been beat up physically in games the last five or six years and we’ve been determined to make sure we improve parts of that to give us the ability to play the game we want. We’ve seen some strong movements in that space.”
While that’s the notable shift, the All Blacks cannot afford to go missing in tests as they did against England, Scotland, Argentina and the Wallabies this year.
With Jordie Barrett surely locked in the midfield alongside Rieko Ioane and Tyrel Lomax coming of age as a tighthead prop, Foster finishes the season with a clear picture of his first-choice team. Dalton Papalii’s standout form poses a problematic decision at openside. Other selection culls will be needed before the World Cup, too.
“We came here having three big tests in mind. We deliberately made a few tweaks around that. Whilst there’s always pressure on us to win we wanted to make sure we kept looking forward.
“The great thing for us is we know we’re going to have to move and I think that’s the right place nine months out from the World Cup.”
The sun is certain to bring warmth as the All Blacks soon slip into summer mode. Next year, though, the cold, harsh climes of a World Cup year loom.
Set against the reality of that backdrop, Foster’s All Blacks have much to prove.