Under-fire All Blacks coach Ian Foster says the officiating at the breakdown gave the All Blacks “confidence” to run to victory over Argentina in Hamilton on Saturday.

“We carried well, we carried smart and [there was] a big difference in the officiating, too. The breakdown was very different to last week and that gave us a lot of confidence to play with the ball,” said Foster.

The New Zealand coach also praised the All Blacks’ mindset on the field: “I just love the ambition. When you’ve had a few losses, it’s easy to shut down a little bit.

“That’s what I think we saw in the last quarter last week, and this week’s been about sort of just trying to change that and getting them just to trust the rugby players that they are. I was really pleased with the ambition particularly early when it was very wet.

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Captain Sam Cane expressed relief.

“It was massively important [to win], we were under a bit of pressure. We weren’t happy with what we dished up last week,” he said.

“This week, we were in the game right from the start and were able to turn that into points. That was a pretty enjoyable night.”

Argentina counterpart Julian Montoya was full of praise for the All Blacks, and believes the Pumas need to get better before they face the Springboks.

“We need to keep working to be better. Last week we weren’t world champions, this week we are not the worst of the world,” he said.

Universal rugby order restored for brilliant Boks and All Blacks

“We need to look inside now and try to improve because in a couple of weeks we have South Africa. Congrats to New Zealand, they played really well.”

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