New Zealand head coach Ian Foster said the All Blacks were not disciplined enough following their 22-24 defeat to Australia in Brisbane.
Ofa Tu’ungafasi was red-carded for an illegal hit on Tom Wright which prompted New Zealand to play with 14 players for most part of the game that came down to 13 players in the final 13 minutes with Scott Barrett yellow-carded for slapping the ball from Nic White’s hand.
Even though Australia also had red and yellow cards to Lachlan Swinton and Marika Koroibete in the opening half, they successfully managed to overcome with tries from Wright and Taniela Tupou along with a 14-point contribution from Hodge.
“In the second half we weren’t as disciplined as we needed to be,” said Foster.
“We were being pushed in the areas and provoked in the areas, and again that’s a tactic that teams use against us, and good on them. We’ve got to be better than that and smarter than that.
“We gave away some kickable penalties. And then that yellow was sort of on top of that and probably just reflected a little bit of frustration when there didn’t need to be any frustration.”
Despite the defeat, New Zealand continue to top the Rugby Championship table with six points and will face Argentina next on 14th November in Parramatta.
