All Blacks v Argentina: Ian Foster not feeling pressure despite historic loss to Pumas

All Blacks coach Ian Foster. Credit: Photo - Photosport; Video - Sky Sport

Ian Foster insists he's not feeling the pressure to keep his job after the All Blacks' historic 25-15 loss to Argentina on Saturday night. 

The All Blacks were expected to comfortably beat Argentina - who were playing their first test since last year's Rugby World Cup - but they failed to match the physicality of the Pumas and Foster admitted his side "got rattled again".

Foster now has two wins, two losses, and a draw in his first five tests in charge of the national side, which is the worst win rate (40 percent) by an All Blacks after five tests since Alex McDonald in 1949.

After a 16-16 draw against Australia in his opening game, he oversaw two wins against the Wallabies before the last two losses, including last weekend's 24-22 loss in Brisbane.

He signed a two-year deal after taking over from Steve Hansen following last year's World Cup in Japan.

Unless Foster quickly turns it around, he will struggle to keep his job, but the former Chiefs boss isn't stressing too much about his future just yet. 

"This role always comes with pressure and what I feel now is [a] massive disappointment that I haven't achieved what I wanted to achieve in the last two games," says Foster. 

"We have a lot of good people in this group and we have shown we can perform at a high level and we need to go back and show we can do it again."

The All Blacks have one more test this year, against Argentina on November 28 and Foster will be determined to win that game to take some pressure off. 

After last week's loss to Australia, Foster named his strongest side and the players spoke of the importance of bouncing back from defeat.

But the Pumas saw the All Blacks drop back-to-back tests for the first time since 2011.

"It's the second week in a row that we haven't shown good composure when things weren't going our way. We got rattled again and that's something we will have to work on," says Foster. 

All Blacks captain Sam Cane. Photo credit: Photosport

"You can tell by my body language that I'm not excited by it.  We certainly didn't underestimate them, we've had those sort of arm-wrestles with them before. 

"They are a team we have massive respect for. They challenged us on our composure and it's probably two weeks we haven't handled that very well."

Foster paid tribute to the Pumas, who have spent much of their preparation time for the tournament in quarantined environments in south America and after arriving in Australia.

"We saw a team that everybody said their disadvantage was that they hadn't played a lot of rugby," says Foster. 

"They came here with massive energy, and probably a massive desire to prove something for their country who have gone through a heck of a hard time.

"There are no excuses, it's an All Blacks jersey and we have to do our best every time. But there certainly was a contrast in the intensity of the two teams."

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