The All Blacks hope a redemption win against Argentina this weekend will help relieve some pressure on under-fire head coach Ian Foster.
The All Blacks face the Pumas in McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night, two weeks after suffering their first ever defeat to the South Americans (and their firstconsecutive loss since 2011) in the 25-15 capitulation at Bankwest Stadium.
The loss was the second in Foster's five matches in charge and has led to some calling for him to be sacked.
Speaking to media on Monday, lock Patrick Tuipulotu said the All Blacks owed Foster a win as much as they owed it to themselves.
All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu. Photo / Photosport
"The coach is always the face of the squad, he's always going to be in the firing line and I think for us if we lose two in a row [to Argentina] the coach is always going to get the blame," he said.
"It's on us to get a result and perform well so that when he is in the firing line, it's good stuff from a good win."
Meanwhile, veteran Sam Whitelock has offered some advise for captain Sam Cane following the public backlash after comments he made about All Blacks fans.
Cane faced scrutiny for his comments last week that some fans criticising the team don't know a lot about rugby in an interview with Sky Sport's Breakdown, describing the brutal nature of some of the All Blacks' passionate supporters.
Sam Whitelock during an All Blacks training session. Photo / Photosport
"We've got some amazing fans but we've also got some pretty brutal ones," he said. "With that, you've just got to remind yourself 'hey, they may like to think they know a lot about the game of rugby, in reality, they don't really'. They may know the game from what they see in the 80 minutes, but they don't see the stuff that goes on behind the scenes."
Whitelock said it was why he chose not to personally delve into what was in the media.
"I had a really good learning early on in my career playing in the 2011 World Cup ... our media manager got in front of the team and said 'look, there's going to be a lot of criticism good and bad in the media so if you don't want to read it or hear what people are saying, just don't read it.' So for myself, I read and look at very little media and social media stuff," he said.
"As a younger player, I used to read all that and it used to get me up and down ... it's people's options and people are allowed to have their opinions it's what makes New Zealand so passionate about rugby and sport in general, but for me, I try not to read it."
