The All Blacks are staring down the barrel of one of their worst seasons as they prepare to face South Africa on Sunday morning.
New Zealand lost the first Test against South Africa 20-16 last Sunday and Ian Foster is fighting for his survival for his job following that and his team's historic Test series loss to Ireland.
Ahead of this Sunday's second Test Foster remains adamant the All Blacks are doing what the need to get back on track.
The All Blacks are staring down the barrel of one of their worst seasons as they prepare to face South Africa in the second Test. (Source: 1News)
“There was enough growth in our game last week for us to know that we’re in the right direction,” Foster said.
“We don’t like not winning. I just trust the lessons that we take. There’s no good us lingering in the past. We’ve just got to go out there and respond the way we need to.”
Despite not getting winning results, Foster hasn’t made many changes to the All Blacks line-up this year.
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“There’s a lot of people who aren’t playing that you could argue deserve a right to play because they’ve been training hard, preparing well but it hasn’t been the start of a year that it’s up to rotate a lot,” Foster said.
However Foster did announce four changes ahead of the second Test, one of those notably at first five-eighth with Richie Mo’unga starting ahead of Beauden Barrett.
Foster said that Mo’unga has earned his start after big contributions behind the scenes.
Fletcher Newell, 22, is also set to make his debut off the bench after being called in to replace Ofa Tu’ungafasi who was ruled out with a neck injury.
“He’s impressed with his demeanour and the way that he’s gone about his work and that’s earned him a right to be considered,” Foster said.
With a few fresh faces, the All Blacks are trusting the process with the true test fast approaching.
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