The All Blacks are prepared for life without Scott Barrett, assistant coach Ian Foster said today after the lock copped a three-week ban for his red card against the Wallabies in Perth last weekend.
Barrett, 25, will spend the next three weeks on the sidelines for the All Blacks, missing this weekend's crucial Bledisloe Cup return fixture at Eden Park this weekend.
Speaking to media in Auckland today, though, Foster said that the All Blacks have moved on.
"It is what it is," Foster began.
"It's three weeks. We try to take a pretty matter-of-fact approach to those things and move forwards.
"It's still disappointing for Scott, but at the end of the day, we've got an end point and a start point for the next plan."
Meanwhile, Foster also says Barrett himself will be affected by his ban, missing for crucial game time ahead of the beginning of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
"I don't think there's ever a best case scenario when a player gets suspended. It impacts his own preparation time, and he's already had quite a bit of time off.
"It just means that we've got a bit of work to do there."
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