All Blacks coach Foster delighted with ‘ruthless’ victory over Pumas
Image: Phil Walter/Getty Images
All Blacks coach Ian Foster called his team's crushing 53-3 bonus point victory over Argentina on Saturday “ruthless” as New Zealand bounced back from their first-ever loss on home soil against the South Americans last week.
Foster picked the same line-up for the comprehensive win in Hamilton as had been defeated by the Pumas in Christchurch a week earlier and he remains convinced his side are on the right track ahead of next year's World Cup.
“It was a big week for us, we had to respond,” said Foster. “I thought we did it in a ruthless manner, which I'm delighted with. There were a number of questions with putting the same group out again but we really believe in the direction we're going.”
The win takes the defending champions into pole position in a tightly-packed Rugby Championship table, one point ahead of Australia, SA and the Argentinians with two matches remaining. The All Blacks face Australia in back-to-back clashes on September 15 and 24 in Melbourne and Auckland with the title still on the line.
“This Championship is important to us and we put ourselves into a bit of a hole last week,” Foster said.
“We had to respond and do what we did. To walk away with a bonus point and a big points differential in a tight competition at least keeps us in the race.
“We're going to need two good performances to have a chance at this Championship. All we've done is put ourselves back into contention.
“We've worked hard to get our game to where we want it to be. It hasn't happened at the speed we'd like but we saw signs of that.”