All Blacks

The All Blacks are in camp in Wellington and fly out to South Africa on Friday for two tests against the world champion Springboks.

New forwards coach Jason Ryan has joined Foster's staff - after previous forwards coach John Plumtree and attack coach Brad Mooar were sacked last week.

But the pressure doesn't let up for Ian Foster.

He may have kept his job in the wake of the series loss to Ireland but a repeat effort in the Rugby Championship and he may not be so fortunate.

Foster though maintains the prospect of losing his job isn't playing on his mind.

Ryan, who has been Crusaders forward coach since 2017, was in Fiji when he got what he calls the surprise call from coach Ian Foster.

He was appointed assistant coach at the weekend as the All Blacks reshuffled their coaching roster following the 2-1 loss to Ireland.

Ryan says while he's still getting his head around all the calls, he's loved his brief time with the team.

"There are a lot of moving parts to the All Blacks machine but the boys have been outstanding, he said at Tuesday's training session in Wellington.

Forwards coach John Plumtree and attacking coach Brad Mooar have been cut from their roles following the reshuffle, according to a statement released from the All Blacks today.

The All Blacks have appointed Crusaders' Jason Ryan as their new forwards coach.

The Crusaders have set the benchmark in terms of consistent performances from their All Black-laden pack and Ryan's six years at the side resulted in six Super Rugby titles.

Sowakula, who made his debut in the series loss against Ireland, is replaced in the loose forwards by Shannon Frizell.

George Bower, Hoskins Sotutu and Sevu Reece are the Fijians named in the squad with Sam Cane retaining the captaincy.

The side plays South Africa in its opening match on August 7 at 3.05am.

Saturday's 32-22 win by the Irish in Wellington clinched a historic first series win in New Zealand and moved them top of the world rankings.

"If we played New Zealand again next week, we'd probably beat them again," said ex-Ireland coach O'Sullivan.

"But I think, come the World Cup, things will even up again."

"There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge between now and next year," he added.

Ireland's latest victory over the All Blacks was their fifth win in eight contests against the three-time world champions.

Ireland completely dominated the home side in the first 40 minutes, leading 22-3 at half-time after scoring three tries in front of a sold out crowd.

Warhorse captain Johnny Sexton was supreme as the Irish stunned the hosts with the string of tries and bone-jarring tackles.

The All Blacks scored the first try of the second half to Ardie Savea before making the most of an Ireland player being yellow carded to dot down again through Akira Ioane and cut the visitors lead to 25-17.

Fourteen months before they host the World Cup, France reached the pinnacle of the rankings for the first time on the back of successive wins on their tour of Japan.

Les Bleus returned home after Saturday's 20-15 victory over the Brave Blossoms in Tokyo, however, so their stay at the top will be brief as the other top teams all play in series deciders next weekend.

World champions South Africa will be confident of beating Wales in the third test in Cape Town to seal their series after a weakened side lost 13-12 at Free State Stadium on Saturday.

Ireland led 10-7 at half time, with the All Blacks having a player sent off after 30 minutes.

Prop Andrew Porter scored the opening try for Ireland after just three minutes, with Jonny Sexton kicking the conversion and then a penalty to give the visitors a deserved early lead.

The All Blacks then had winger Leicester Fainga'anuku and Ofa Tu'ungafasi both sin-binned and replacement prop Angus Ta'avao was red-carded in the 31st minute for a dangerous tackle.

The breakdown and the defence have been identified as areas where the team can take a step up, Barrett said, after the Irish won the early collisions and scored three tries at Eden Park.

"We want to take our game to another level and we have already identified many areas to get better," Barrett said in Dunedin.

"Obviously, there were some missed opportunities out there on the weekend. And although it was our first go at it, we would like to improve a lot."

With a Covid-hit squad meaning he couldn't even be in camp, the All Blacks coach has raised pretty much every set of rugby eyebrows sky high in what is shaping up to be an extremely interesting test match.