Ethan Blackadder is on his way to the World Cup to join an All Blacks side determined to put to use what coach Ian Foster described today as a few “home truths” during their defeat to France in Paris.
Blackadder will reinforce the loose forwards in the wake of Shannon Frizell’s long-term hamstring injury and Sam Cane’s back problem which kept the skipper out of the 27-13 defeat at the Stade de France where the All Blacks collapsed from a 13-9 lead near the start of the second half.
Injured when the 33-man World Cup squad was named, Blackadder will replace wing Emoni Narawa, who has a back injury.
His addition will once again shine a light on Foster’s decision to go with a 18-15 forwards-backs split rather than a more logical 19-14 arrangement given Narawa, who has played one Test, was unlikely to be considered for the high-stakes matches in France.
Speaking to 1News at Christchurch airport on the way to Lyon via Auckland today, Blackadder said he received a call yesterday from forwards coach Jason Ryan while running through lineout drills with his Tasman NPC team.
“Obviously I’m pretty excited,” Blackadder said.
“It’s a bit of a whirlwind to be honest. I’ve been called for duty and there’s a job to do and I hope to contribute.”
The 28-year-old Blackadder, whose Super Rugby season with the Crusaders was wrecked by calf and thigh injuries, will join an All Blacks campaign that is in danger of being their worst ever following their loss to Les Bleus.
Before yesterday, the All Blacks had never lost a World Cup pool match. It makes their next three, starting with Namibia in Lyon on Saturday, must-wins to keep alive their hopes of making a quarter-final. They have a bye week after Namibia before playing Italy and then Uruguay.
Analysing the performance a day later, Foster told New Zealand reporters that the biggest lesson was handed out by France in the final 20 minutes.
“There were a couple of home truths in that last quarter,” Foster said. “We lost that last quarter 18-0 and we need to own that. But the reality is it hasn’t changed a lot of things that we’re planning to do over the next few weeks. We’ve got to respond to that.”
The All Blacks were hurt by Will Jordan’s yellow card for a dangerous kick-chase – a problem area throughout for the All Blacks, who conceded 12 penalties to France’s four.
But they were also troubled at the set piece and lost the battle at the breakdown – big issues if and when they make the quarter-final for a likely clash against either South Africa or Ireland.
“We’ve got to pull apart a few pieces,” Foster said.
“Where we got to in that 50-odd minutes was really pleasing. Perhaps we could have been in a better position if we had dealt with that [phase] before halftime a little smarter. I felt we got in a good position against a really good side in a pretty hostile environment.
“Then we got squeezed and frustrated a little bit and we started to lose the battle at the breakdown and certainly we lost the aerial battle, particularly when we were chasing our kicks – we got clumsy in that space.
“We’ve got to be better at set piece, particularly at scrum time which has to be more consistent straight through. I’ve got a lot of faith in our scrum but certainly we’ve got to be smarter in adapting to the tricks that go on there.”
While the All Blacks kicked well for both tries to Mark Telea – Beauden Barrett’s kick-pass and Ardie Savea’s left-foot chip for Jordan in a planned lineout move (devised by Savea, revealed Foster), France kicked longer and therefore exerted more territorial pressure.
“We weren’t quite as efficient in dealing with that,” Foster said. “I thought we went into our shell a bit with their kicks. We could have played with a bit more ambition there. But you can’t lose the penalty count 12-4 against a team that wants to play for territory and kick goals and squeeze you. Again, that’s the second Test that’s happened at key times and we’ve got to take notice of that.”
The All Blacks’ lack of attacking clarity was evident in the second half when they failed to find the requisite balance between kicking and running and all France had to do was wait for their moments. They came late on and the home side converted with two tries.
Foster said Brodie Retallick came through his 12 minutes off the bench well following his return from a knee injury, but that Frizell and prop Tyrel Lomax would not be available to play Namibia.
Cane and Jordie Barrett are possibilities.
Foster’s men will be overwhelming favourites to beat Namibia, who rarely play Tier 1 sides, but Italy could be a different scenario.
“That’s shaping as a massive game for us,” he said.
SHARE ME