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Lock Scott Barrett became the first All Black to receive two red cards when he was given his marching orders in London on Saturday morning. His first red card was against the Wallabies in Perth in 2019.
Ian Foster already has to start thinking about potential contingency plans ahead of the World Cup opener against France after the All Blacks crashed to their worst defeat in history in London.
As if watching his team concede five tries during the 35-7 loss to the Springboks at Twickenham on Saturday morning wasn’t bad enough, Foster has the injury to first-choice tighthead prop Tyrel Lomax and the ramifications of lock Scott Barrett’s red card to contemplate before the first game of the global tournament in Paris on September 9.
Lomax appears certain to be scratched from that match after suffering a deep cut near the knee at Twickenham, which forced him to be replaced by Fletcher Newell in the 14th minute.
Although Foster was optimistic the injury wouldn’t force Lomax to return to New Zealand, he said the gash, which he believed was the result of a sharp sprig tearing through the muscle, was “pretty bad”.
Foster said there were concerns about the sharp plastic sprigs used by players, noting Beauden Barrett suffered a deep cut near his heel while playing for the Blues in Super Rugby Pacific.
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Two yellow cards and a red had the ill-disciplined All Blacks reeling in 28-point loss at Twickenham.
“We’ll have to see which boot that came from and while it certainly wasn’t deliberate, Beauden got cut by the same sort of thing, so we’ll have to check that out,” Foster said.
“But he’s [Lomax] not in a good way.”
Lomax immediately clutched at his leg after suffering the injury, motioning to support staff that he was in trouble. A brace was placed around his leg before he was helped from the park.
Having named four other players capable of operating at tighthead in the group of six props named for the World Cup, Foster doesn’t lack cover for Lomax.
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All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax, centre, was assisted from the field by the medical team after suffering a deep gash to his leg.
Nepo Laulala and Newell are tighthead specialists, and Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Tamaiti Williams can cover both sides of the front row.
If Lomax is forced out of the tournament Foster has options. The uncapped Tevita Mafileo, who plays for the Hurricanes and North Harbour, trained with the All Blacks during the Rugby Championship. Oli Jager and ex-Wallaby Jermaine Ainsley joined Mafileo on the All Blacks XV squad’s two-game tour of Japan last month.
Two yellow cards to Scott Barrett in the first half of the match at Twickenham were automatically upgraded to red. Losing Barrett, arguably one of the best All Blacks during the Rugby Championship, due to suspension would be a massive blow.
He’s expected to go through a judicial process for charging into the head of Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx when making a cleanout at a breakdown. That collision with Marx resulted in the second yellow.
The first was for conceding a penalty when the team was already on a warning.
“We’ll have to see what comes out of that but we’ll just go through the process,” Foster said in reference to Barrett.
He doesn’t expect Barrett to be suspended, but that may be wishful thinking: “No. But we’ll see how we deal with that,” Foster said.
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All Blacks coach Ian Foster has plenty to ponder after his team’s 35-7 loss to the Springboks.
Barrett now had the dubious honour of being the first All Black to be sent off twice in tests.
The first was when he was given his marching orders for crunching into Wallabies flanker Michael Hooper in a ruck in Perth in 2019. Barrett was banned for three weeks.
What may concern Barrett and Foster is that World Rugby want to crack down on foul play ahead of the World Cup.
David Rogers/Getty Images
Nika Amashukeli, the referee, shows Owen Farrell, the England captain, a yellow card which was later upgraded to red, during match against Wales on August 13. Farrell was later banned for four matches.
England captain Owen Farrell discovered this when World Rugby appealed an independent disciplinary panel’s decision not to punish him for a high tackle during a match against Wales. Farrell was yellow carded for a high shot on player Taine Basham, which was upgraded to red by the bunker review system.
After the appeal Farrell was banned for four matches, which means he will miss the World Cup pool games against Argentina and Japan.
Despite the heavy defeat in London Foster is likely to start a similar team against France. He would have liked to have seen more from Luke Jacobson, but the blindside flanker was forced off the field in the 40th minute because reserve lock Tupou Vaa’i was needed to fill the hole left by Barrett.
Halfback Cam Roigard, who replaced Aaron Smith in the 61st minute, scored a consolation try and in all likelihood did enough to keep Finlay Christie out of the match-day 23 for Paris.
Poor discipline, shaky set pieces – they lost five of their own lineout throws – handling errors, and an intercept pass thrown by midfielder Jordie Barrett contributed to a miserable outing for the All Blacks.
“We certainly got an uppercut today,” Foster lamented.
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