New Zealand ran in nine tries, including two each for wingers Nehe Milner-Skudder and Julian Savea, as they powered to a 58-14 win over Namibia on 24 September, but there is still work to do for the defending champions, according to assistant coach Ian Foster.
I thought we were really incisive, we scored, I think, three tries off some pretty organized play - off lineouts particularly but it looked like we got bored, didnt it? And when the game got slow and we were trying to make things up, thats when we sort of lost our form and our patience a little bit, Foster told reporters at a news conference on 25 September.
So that side of it we can work on and I guess the other area was we probably got a little bit flat off some of our phase plays, out wide in the wide channels and if you go back to Argentina we were probably a little bit too deep and thats not just so much about, I dont think about backs, its about the team as such just reading the pace of the ball and if the ball gets slowed down, not creeping too much. So theres some little issues to tidy up, he said.
We still havent put together an 80-minute performance together, have we. And were certainly clear on that. So the goal of this tournament is we just want to keep building, dont we. And I guess thats the goal through the pool play and if we turn up and whack teams then people are going to say its all too easy for us and if we turn up and probably dont beat them as much as what they think then theyll worry about us.
So, were probably in a no-win either way but weve got to keep building, we know that, but weve just been through a four-day turnaround. This team hasnt done that... I dont know when they last did it as an All Black team so its been a challenging time and there have been some changes but overall were pretty satisfied with where were at.
Victor Vito, Malakai Fekitoa, Beauden Barrett, Ben Smith and Codie Taylor also grabbed a try apiece as a second-string All Blacks side made it two wins out of two in Rugby World Cup Pool C. New Zealands next match is against Georgia on October 2. Namibia face Tonga on 29 September.
