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'Frustration, disappointment' key to All Blacks' reflection process, John Plumtree says

October 15, 2020

John Plumtree said players were “pretty honest” about their individual performances against the Wallabies.

They've copped some heat from outside the team environment but the biggest critics of the All Blacks after last week's Bledisloe draw are themselves, says assistant coach John Plumtree - and he thinks it's a good thing.

The All Blacks were held to a 16-16 draw with the Wallabies in Wellington on Sunday after being dominated in key areas such as possession and territory.

At their match review the following day, Plumtree said there were plenty of honest responses to the Test.

"The boys have been pretty hard on themselves," Plumtree said.

"The reason why that is is because they've got their standards that they want to bring to any big contest and if those standards aren't reached, we're going to get reactions like that.

"A couple of clips we showed them in the review will probably fire them up a bit."

John Plumtree said there’s no rush to look at trying new combinations.

Anton Lienert-Brown, who came off the bench on Sunday in the midfield, went a little further explaining why players were frustrated with the result.

"I know [Wallabies coach] Dave Rennie, I know how he coaches and we talked about that before the first game," Lienert-Brown said.

"I think that's the most disappointing thing is that we talked about it all week and then we didn't match the intent or physicality.

"We thought we prepared really well but for some reason it just wasn't there in the game."

Lienert-Brown added it was more fuel being thrown on the team's collective fire for this week's rematch at Eden Park.

"You can feel it in the room this week... I don't think there was one person within the team that was too proud of what they put out."

Plumtree said it was good that the team had such strong feelings in the group for this week's game.

"The hurt is there ... at the end of the day it's just a matter of getting over that hurt and making sure we nail our plan."

Asked if players were perhaps being too harsh on themselves after their first Test in almost a year, Plumtree said there's a balance to it.

"You've got to give them the opportunity to be frustrated and disappointed and then we start talking and we start rebuilding our mindset," he said.

"At some point you've got to pull your shoulders back, get your chest out, get a smile on your face and get on with your week."

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