Sport

All Blacks won't be leaving any lessons behind

11:06 am on 15 November 2021

The All Blacks won't be flushing away the Ireland result too quickly and will use to to get prepare for this weekend's tour finale against France.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The All Blacks have flown into Paris a little bit battered and bruised after their 29-20 loss in Dublin.

Centre Anton Lienert-Brown has his arm in a sling after suffering a should injury yesterday and coach Ian Foster says he won't be considered for the game against France.

First five Beauden Barrett continues to go through concussion protocols after suffering a head knock during the game in Dublin.

Ireland dominated most aspects from start to finish to score their third win over the All Blacks since their historic victory in 2016.

It leaves Foster and his coaching staff with a few few decisions to make this week.

"You certainly don't want to be leaving any lessons behind," said Foster.

"That was probably the best Irish team I've come up against and they managed to put us under a lot of pressure, we got quite flustered at times and lacked a bit of composure so those are the moments we have to take some learnings from."

The All Blacks forwards were unable to get any dominance over the Irish and gave away too many turnovers, resulting in spending most of the first half on defence in their own half.

"Consistently over 80 minutes we've got to get stronger and also we've got to make sure that we're giving our forwards a chance to impose themselves on the opposition.

"We turned over a lot of ball in the backs within one to two phases and that hurt us.

"It's really a matter of the backs being accountable for the decisions they make and retaining the ball to give our forwards a chance to impose themselves and that'll be a big part of the solution."

With Lienert-Brown defeinelty unavailable and the possibility that Beauden Barrett will also be missing there will be changes in a couple of key positions.

Halfback Aaron Smith, who flew in as injury cover, could be considered while it's likely other changes will be determinded by how well some recover over the next couple of day.

Ardie Savea Photo: PHOTOSPORT

"We've got a group that has been together for a long time, they're working hard for each other and (the Irish game) wasn't at a level that we wanted and we want to finish this tour strongly, said Foster.

"We've got to build a bit of excitement into this week, playing at the Stade de France against an exciting young French team is a great game for us to respond.

"So I don't think we'll be short of motivation at all and I know our leaders and our senior players are hurting and already thinking about the plan for this week.

Foster is sure his side will respond as they normally do after a defeat.

"You get smacked in this business and it always hurts and the key is how we grow through this."

Foster says they've had two objectives on this tour.

"One is to build depth in our squad, but that has never meant to be at the detriment of the performance or the result, the result always matters.

France warmed up for next weekend's game with a 41-15 victory over Georgia in Bordeaux.