New Zealand unchanged as second match against Pumas looms

The All Blacks have opted against any changes to their starting XV for the second of their two games against Argentina.

New Zealand suffered a first ever home defeat to Los Pumas last weekend, but head coach Ian Foster has kept his team identical for the third week in a row.

He will be hopeful that the same team that produced an impressive performance to beat South Africa three weeks ago can bounce back once again, although he will be coming into the game under less pressure than that one having received a vote of confidence from New Zealand rugby’s governing body in the period since.

23 for the Tron 💪 pic.twitter.com/M4XFV4uQrL

— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) August 31, 2022

The only changes for the All Blacks come on the bench, as second row Brodie Retallick and fly-half Beauden Barrett recover from injury, while hooker Codie Taylor has dropped out the squad altogether after his issues at lineout time in the 25-18 upset by the Pumas last week.

Head coach Foster was once again defiant that his troops had what it took to deliver the goods, after his win percentage slipped below 63 per cent with last week’s defeat, the lowest of any New Zealand coach to have been in charge for more than 11 games.

“For those that want blood, I guess we haven’t given it, have we?” he told reporters. “But we’ve been pretty ruthless and hard on ourselves behind the scenes. We’re hurting with where the team’s at.

“But if you play under fear then you restrict your options, you restrict your thinking and what actually happens is you just don’t get the game going the way you want to do it.

“As a group, this has been a week of refining areas where we know we can be better. It has been a good preparation in Hamilton so far and the hard work will need to continue so that we get a performance everyone can be proud of.”

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