The stat All Blacks say gives them Rugby World Cup hope after historic loss
The All Blacks had never lost a pool match at the Rugby World Cup until this year.
Their 27-13 defeat to France in Paris marked another historic loss for New Zealand and its head coach Ian Foster.
Nevertheless, he believes it's no cause for concern. After all, South Africa lost its first match of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and went on to win the tournament.
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"No, I don't think we have to rebuild," said Foster after Saturday's match at Stade de France.
New Zealand's Ardie Savea drops to his knees after the All Blacks lost to France. Christophe Ena via AP
"Stats are stats and I understand all that. In the past we've won all our pool games and not necessarily won a tournament.
"The goal is to win the tournament. Let's be frank. This game was always going to be massive. We know how strong France are.
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"We wanted to get excited about playing them and you saw that ambition from us. We were just denied opportunities to really attack them in their half.
"There will be some aspects we'll have to rebuild and get better at. We're not down in the sheds. We're frustrated we lost a game.
"We fired some good bullets at them. We just didn't fire enough."
New Zealand's Beauden Barrett races for the loose ball with France captain Antoine Dupont during the Rugby World Cup opener. David Rogers via Getty Images
The All Blacks will have a week to regroup before facing Namibia on September 16 then Italy on September 30 before ending pool play against Uruguay on October 6.
That is, in theory, a relatively easy run through to the quarter-finals. Although, it does potentially change their trajectory to the quarter-finals given they'll likely end the pool in second – notwithstanding France suffering a shock loss.
As stand-in captain Ardie Savea explained, that precedent set by South Africa gives them some hope.
"South Africa lost in 2019 in the first game against us and went on to win the competition," he said.
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster addresses his players. Hannah Peters via Getty Images
"For us, obviously we're frustrated we lost tonight. We lost the battle but there is still a war to be won.
"To win that, we've got to win the next three and how you do that is worry about the next one and take the lessons from this one moving forward."
Despite the loss, there's no expectation that the team has to panic and make major changes.
"I think it's important to stay close and tight," said Savea.
"I think tonight it's OK for the boys to feel the hurt and feel the loss. It's us as leaders and as a group to bring the boys together.
"Ideally we wanted a win tonight but we didn't. We've got to shift our focus to what is next."
