Following the All Blacks' Rugby World Cup quarter-final victory over Ireland on Saturday night, New Zealand head coach Ian Foster said he'd felt "quite calm" in the coaching box during the final minutes of the game. "They were going with a cut-and-paste attack, doing the same sort of things," said Foster.
By some, this was taken as a slight on the Ireland attack.
"It wasn't a derogatory comment at all," All Blacks McLeod clarified on Sunday.
"Cut-and-paste meant that they just kept running the same shape, the attack shape. They just kept trying to find a weakness in us, over and over and over again.
"They are one of the best attacking sides in the world. They make you make constant decisions and they test your execution.
"They just kept trying to run the same stuff against us and what I am saying is that I'm really proud that no one in our line really tried to win that on their own or win that moment on their own.
"They did it collectively, they stayed connected and they did what we trained and eventually we got the opportunity to turn the ball over."
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14 October 2023; New Zealand players, from right, Scott Barrett, Beauden Barrett and Jordie Barrett celebrate at full-time in the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between Ireland and New Zealand at the Stade de France in Paris, France. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
During the final minutes of the game, Ireland retained the ball for 37 phases as they sought what would have been a winning try.
"We had to make 276 tackles last night and 100 of those were in the last quarter, and particularly in that last 37 phases," said McLeod.
"You know, the most we've had to make in this tournament, or attempt to make was 137 against Italy.
"So, there's a huge amount of care and a huge amount of ticker I guess, Kiwi ticker in you like, that we wanted to get the job done.
"I am really proud of our execution in that zone but also our decision-making. The ball wasn't there to take a number of times and we had to wait for the moment and then execute really well.
"You know, Sam Whitelock put himself in the position twice to do that and so did Ardie [Savea] and we finally got it.
"We finally got it after that 37th phase and the boys are really happy with that."
14 October 2023; New Zealand assistant coach Joe Schmidt and New Zealand head coach Ian Foster during the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between Ireland and New Zealand at the Stade de France in Paris, France. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
McLeod added that the 2022 summer series defeat to Ireland was a key moment of the All Blacks' defence.
"After the series loss at home last year which really hurt, we had to have a really good look at some fundamentals in the defensive game for the All Blacks and a big part of that was in Super Rugby in New Zealand they tend to defend the man," said McLeod.
"So, they line up on a man and they defend the man. Whereas that doesn't work against Ireland, it doesn't work against Italy, it doesn't work against France and we knew we had those teams more than likely in this World Cup.
"So, we had to develop our ability to be able to defend the ball. Wherever the ball is we had to put people in front of that.
"That was the most pleasing aspect, that we've built the players' skillset from last year. That loss against Ireland and then the end of year tour and we've learned some really harsh lessons. Last night the majority of the time we got that right and we had to get that right against Ireland and the way they attack."
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