The Irish, the No 1 team in the world earlier in the year and backed by a noisy, exuberant support, had no answer and their search for a World Cup knockout win continues.
It's the All Blacks who once again progress; this time to a semifinal against England in Yokohama on Saturday, a game that Hansen was wary about discussing until this 46-14 win has been celebrated.
Fair enough, too, because there was quite a bit of good stuff to reflect on.
"We've had a really good week and the guys have had a bounce in their step," Foster said.
"It wasn't a heavy week and they wanted to play. We had to play well up front against Ireland – if you don't it's really hard to do some of those special things happening out wide.
"We won the forward battle and that was where the battle overall was won."
Hansen, who began by paying credit to retiring Ireland captain Rory Best and coach Joe Schmidt, added the All Blacks got an edge with their defence: "When you're doing that teams can second guess themselves and psychologically you can get an edge."
Hansen also paid credit to his fellow coaches – particularly Foster whom he said was coaching as well as he ever has - and skipper Read, whom he said had received some "flak" at home for his form following his return from a back injury but was now playing better than ever.
