Rugby: All Blacks coach Ian Foster hits back at Jamie Joseph’s sledge after Japan’s narrow loss in Tokyo

Ian Foster and Jamie Joseph. Photos / Photosport

Ian Foster has responded to Japan coach Jamie Joseph’s suggestion that the All Blacks’ “armour” isn’t what it once was.

Japan, who were rank outsiders heading into last weekend, pushed the All Blacks all the way in Tokyo on Saturday night.

While they ultimately fell to a 31-38 defeat, Joseph said teams aren’t really as scared of the All Blacks as they once were.

“Everyone is thinking about the All Blacks, and that’s part of their armour, really,” Joseph, who has made 20 appearances for the All Blacks, said.

“Having played for the All Blacks, one of the things we used to talk about 25 years ago was that everyone was a wee bit scared of us.

“Perhaps that’s not the case anymore, I’m not sure.

“We shut their lineout down, shut their maul down, but it still wasn’t enough and that sort of tells you how good the All Blacks are as a team.”

Hoskins Sotutu is tackled. Photo / Photosport

He added another cheeky jab, saying England – who are fifth in the world rankings, one spot below the All Blacks – are a “better team”.

“They key for us really is to go to England now and replicate that performance against a better team.”

Responding to Joseph’s comments, Foster labelled it “nicely mischievous” but admitted his side weren’t up to standards in many aspects of the game.

“He’s obviously very happy with a close loss and he should be proud of his team’s effort, but we’ll take the win and move on,” Foster said.

“I’ve been around a lot of All Black teams where our first game as a group after a spell we’ve struggled.

“But there were certainly some parts that weren’t up to our standards, we scored 38 points with five nice tries, but if you look at your performance, particularly our lineout, it really didn’t function particularly well.

“We left a lot of opportunities there and probably our transition defence, where we just looked slow to move and not really connected, a couple of pretty critical areas I don’t think we were up to par.

“But it was also a pretty good Japan team we played against and in particular, that transition defence is an area of strength for them.

“They fed off the scraps and did it very well, we knew that it was coming and we weren’t quite quick enough but a good building block going forward.”

The All Blacks will next head on a three-game tour of Europe to finish their 2022 season, starting with Wales before tests against Scotland and England.