Grant Fox believes that the All Blacks' loss to Ireland last year will make them even tougher to beat at this year's Rugby World Cup.
The All Blacks selector said a tough end-of-year tour in 2018 had further stiffened their resolve as they seek a World Cup three-peat in Japan,and believes that the adversity and challenges they encountered on that tour - most notably in the 16-9 loss in Dublin - will be a useful experience to call upon.
"Ireland was the rock under the beach towel all summer, which just serves as motivation for us. Better to find out how to cope with Ireland, because we've also been beaten by them in Chicago, so they've got a couple over us," Fox admitted to Radio Sport.
"We were making some adjustments to our plan — we aren't going to divulge it but a lot of it worked and some of it didn't so we've made some readjustments. Better to learn that last year than the business end of a World Cup, to take it as a learning experience."
"We actually got through that game and closed out a tough test match pretty well. That augurs well in terms of what the business end of a World Cup looks like."
Also, if the All Blacks needed a reminder of how tough it is to win the World Cup, Fox believes they got it on that end-of-year tour.
"Our group won't sit too comfortably with [what happened in 2018] ... there is no chance of complacency.
"We've got a bit of work to do and that's not a bad place to be."
