New Zealand head coach Ian Foster said brilliant All Blacks defence, holding out a 37-phase Ireland surge in the last minutes, carried them to an outstanding 28-24 victory and a semi final game with Argentina in the Rugby World Cup in Paris on Saturday.
Foster admitted New Zealand can not continue to be under the radar when they are in a Rugby World Cup semi-final:
"I suspect not. The limelight was on Ireland, with 17 wins in a row. They’ve built a team for this sort of iconic moment; they had massive expectations. We have been there as a team, we know what that’s like. We know some things kill you in those situations. Our role was just to be quiet and steel ourselves for the challenge. We know Argentina well, they know us well, it will be a heck of a game, a southern hemisphere game."
Foster said it was tough on an Ireland side that threw everything at the All Blacks, with the benefit of some marginal line calls, two yellow cards and a penalty try. Still, in the end, the New Zealand pack was dominant throughout and provided the foundation:
“We thought they would fatigue as the game went on. There has been a bit of that in the past and that is why we wanted to keep the game moving but in the end, I am not sure they have had as much as I would have liked, seeing how they finished. But we were our scrum dominance in the game. We like to play fast, not only against Ireland but against every team."
On the coaching box, while New Zealand was defending Ireland's 37 phases, New Zealand head coach Ian Foster said:
"I actually felt quite calm, to be honest. They were going with a cut-and-paste attack, doing the same sort of things. We were really patient and they were really efficient with it. It was hard to get your nose in, we were hunting and searching, but we showed patience.
"With Scott McLeod and Joe [Schmidt] helping him, we have been building our system for today and how we want to defend. We are making some strides in that space and I was delighted.
"One mistake and the game could have gone the other way. But you haven’t been to a World Cup if you haven’t had a game like that. I remember the South Africa game [semi-final] in 2015. That is what World Cups are about – you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and trust what you do.”
