Coach Ian Foster admitted on Thursday that New Zealand's set-piece play could be compromised by fielding a smaller, more mobile, forward pack after he brought in flanker Dalton Papalii as his only All Blacks change for the second Test against Ireland.
Coach Ian Foster admitted on Thursday that New Zealand’s set-piece play could be compromised by fielding a smaller, more mobile, forward pack after he brought in flanker Dalton Papalii as his only All Blacks change for the second Test against Ireland.
Foster said his preference would have been to retain Barrett in the back row after the experimental selection worked well in a powerful pack display last week. With New Zealand having held the upper hand in the scrum and lineout at Eden Park, Foster accepted there was a chance their lighter pack could cede some of that advantage.
Foster has made four changes to his replacements, bringing in the uncapped pair of scrum-half Folau Fakatava and prop Aidan Ross. Foster said he was eager to see how the bench newcomers would perform but was reluctant to change his starting side, given their efforts in Auckland off the back of a build-up disrupted by seven Covid cases in the All Blacks camp.
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