All Blacks coach Ian Foster has had to deflect questions over his ability to coach the national side, after steering them to a historic series defeat against Ireland, losing the series decider 32-22 at Wellington.
A week after their first test loss to the Irish on home soil, the NZ side never led, trailling by 19 points at halftime, but ultimately falling short with their stirring second-half comeback.
The result reduces Foster's record to four losses in his last five outings - three of them to Ireland - and he was grilled by media on his future at the helm, deflecting three related questions in the post-game press conference.
"Look, I just want to talk about this test match," he insisted, before his inquisitors were directed to move on.
Instead, Foster and embattled captain Sam Cane have chosen to see the positives from the 2-1 series defeat.
Ahead 1-0 in the best of three series, the All Blacks suffered back-to-back defeats against a high-flying Irish side, losing in Dunedin and Wellington as the visitors lifted their first trophy on New Zealand soil.
And with a difficult away series to world champions South Africa on the horizon in the next month, the All Blacks will not have an easy task in reversing their fortunes as they prepare for next year's Rugby World Cup in France.
Cane was at a loss to sum up the All Blacks display at Sky Stadium and despite outscoring the visitors in the second half, he made his frustrations over his side's inconsistencies clear.
"I wish I could put my finger on it," said Cane. "We had a lot of confidence going into this weekend, because of how hard we'd worked and what we'd be able to put out on the training park, but out there, [we were] too inconsistent with the good moments and the bad moments.
"When we go back to back with good stuff, we look flash, we got the job done for periods, but there were too many times where we're not backing those up."
Cane also conceded the All Blacks would need to bank the experience of losing this series, if they hoped to improved in the World Cup lead-up.
"I know for a fact that the boys are trying extremely hard and are hurting a lot right now," he added. "The only good thing that can come out of this is we use it as fuel to get better.
"If we don't learn, if we don't use this whole experience of this series to learn and get better, then it's just wasted.
"We've got to pick ourselves up quickly, find solutions, look at positives and find a way to go forward from it. If we don't, it's just wasted."
Foster also chose to look at the positives, with several new All Blacks exposed to a high-pressure game outside of a World Cup for the first time.
But he also insisted on giving Ireland due credit, as a team who've now had the All Blacks at their mercy, after ending a century-long wait for victory in 2016. Since that victory in Chicago, Ireland have won five of eight meetings between the two sides.
"First and foremost, New Zealand has probably got to realise that this is a very good Irish team and give them some credit," Foster said.
"It would be disrespectful for us just to not make that the No.1 item. They've come and achieved something pretty special here - I think they deserve a bit of time in the sun for that.
"For us, we're a group working hard, we're working on solutions. We've got a lot of belief in the solutions we've got, but we've now got to get better at executing them.
"We've been given a real marker in the sand for where we're at."
