After watching his side deliver one of their best performances under his tenure, Ian Foster stowed away the emotions and energy he'd shown in the coach's box to talk about the All Blacks' big win over South Africa.
The 35-20 victory was built on another quick start from the All Blacks, as well as an impressive finish, with Foster's men able to deny the Springboks and their infamous "bomb squad" on the bench a comeback in the second half.
Foster said there were plenty of things to take from the physical encounter, but one thing stood out to him.
"Just the way we climbed through some ebbs and flows in the game," he said after the match.
"They're a quality team and we obviously stung them at the start with the tempo we were able to play. I thought our desire to play on top of them early was there and we got good reward for it.
"But they came back. We've spoken before about defending leads, and they had a lot of experience on their bench in that third quarter. But I thought we rowed through that, so it's a good step for us."
It was touch-and-go for a moment though with Cheslin Kolbe's soaring finish in the 67th minute making the scoreline 23-15 but the All Blacks managed to respond with two more tries to get the job done.
Foster said that strong finish was equally important for his squad.
"Any win over South Africa is pretty special, particularly this South African team, and to deal with the best they had off the bench, and the way we did it, was encouraging," he said.
"I guess the thing that gives us most confidence is they had a lot of momentum in the second half where they were on top, and rather than losing our way for too long we managed to find a way back.
"That was the part that was really pleasing. If we can keep building that confidence in that part of our game then the first-half stuff will be pretty good."
And Foster emphasised that last point — his side still has plenty to work on going forward with two weeks before they take on a wounded Wallabies outfit.
"We have got a lot of growth to do. We are learning let's just nail each week at a time, not think too much about anything else, and just focus on being as good as we can be right now.
"That's been a good formula for us, and has meant we haven't tried to over-analyse the past or get too excited about the future."
There was some things to be excited over though with standout individual performances, particularly from Shannon Frizell and Will Jordan, against the reigning world champions in a World Cup year.
Foster said Frizell — who had a team-high 13 tackles, nine tacklers beaten and impressive try last night — had delivered two big performances this year already now after also delivering in the No.6 jersey last week against Argentina.
"He's just taken the challenge on board," said Foster. "It's a jersey he wants. I was delighted.
"I thought last week was one of his best tests, the Argentinians are a tough team and he was strong.
"He was strong. But to do it again this week is pretty special. I thought he should be pretty proud."
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