All Blacks facing moment of truth as great expectations weigh heavily

Dip your toe in the thermal pool of angst swirling around the All Blacks and you are liable to be burnt. Criticism has reached boiling point. The thermostat is ready to explode. Anything other than a series-clinching victory against Ireland’s history-makers in Wellington this weekend will spark a full-scale national inquiry.

No matter who they face or where they play New Zealand as a rugby nation demands the All Blacks win every time they step onto the field.

Such unrealistic expectations are largely borne out of the period from 2012 to September 2019 when the All Blacks suffered nine losses in 100 Tests – a period that includes New Zealand’s first World Cup triumph on foreign soil and the global rugby record for 18 consecutive wins. Generational players, the likes of Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Jerome Kaino and Ma’a Nonu contributed to a golden age that delivered a near 89% win record.

Steve Hansen’s tenure as head coach concluded, however, with the crushing 2019 World Cup semi-final defeat by England, followed by the passing of the baton to his assistant Ian Foster. Foster’s appointment sowed the seeds of frustration for many agitated All Blacks fans demanding change.

A large pocket of New Zealand rugby followers, particularly those that maintain six-time Super Rugby-winning Crusaders coach Scott Robertson should have been preferred for the national job, have waited for Foster to fall. His struggles to deliver consistency during a Covid-disrupted period have fuelled that backdrop of discontent.

The All Blacks have claimed one victory from their last four Tests and have four wins from their past eight – two of those against Italy and the USA. Last week in Dunedin they became the first All Blacks team to lose at home to