Coach Ian Foster has advanced as factors in the All Blacks’ loss to South Africa a lack of recent match play, the three yellow cards and subsequent red card the team received and the significant injury to prop Tyrel Lomax.
“But we’ve got a lot of belief in what we’ve been doing and we know that the first game of the World Cup is big and it’s going to be just like that. We’ll probably be attacked in a very similar way.” There’s no doubt the All Blacks have some of the most exciting backs in the world: Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett, Will Jordan and Rieko Ioane. But the manner in which the All Blacks forwards were physically dominated by South Africa raises questions about whether they will be able to provide a platform for the backs against top-tier teams at the World Cup.
But the performance against the Springboks in London was a setback and was reminiscent of the 2019 World Cup semifinal against England in which New Zealand was physically dominated. In the absence of Lomax, the All Blacks pack begins to look older and less formidable.