Frustrated All Blacks coach Ian Foster has called for more patience - both from his players and the rugby public - after another historic defeat in a season of setbacks.
The home side have suffered their first loss to Argentina on NZ soil, squandering their first-half set-piece dominance to fall 25-18 at Christchurch's OrangeTheory Stadium.
New Zealand scored two tries to the Pumas' one, but kept their rivals in contention with indiscipline that was punished by inexperienced Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli, with Argentina winger Emiliano Boffelli kicking faultlessly for goal to slot six penalties and a sideline conversion.
After surviving intense public and media scrutiny since the home series loss to Ireland last month, Foster has had to front for another losing media conference in a city questioning why local favourite and champion Crusaders coach Scott Robertson doesn't have his job.
"It's a tough learning curve for this group," he said. "We don't like losing and we understand our country don't like us losing - we're all in the same boat in that place.
"The reality is we're still a team that's rebuilding and sometimes that confidence doesn't come with the speed that we want it to.
"We've got to go out there and suck that one up. With our own frustration, we probably lost a bit of direction in the last quarter and we have to be better than that."
The All Blacks achieved some dominance over their rivals during the opening 40 minutes, enjoying a clear edge at scrum and lineout time, but watched that dissipate in the second half, after Foster replaced his starting front row en masse four minutes after the break.
Particularly missed was powerful hooker Samisoni Taukei'aho, who scored their first try from a lineout drive and stole Pumas lineout ball to spark the second to winger Caleb Clarke.
Foster hints the decision to replace them was an injury-prevention issue, but replacement hooker Codie Taylor was one of the main offenders, with his team trailling late and desperately searching for another try.
"I felt we did a lot of good stuff in that first half, but as the game wore on and the scoreboard pressure came on, we got a bit one dimensional in how we played," reflected Foster.
"Sometimes your strength becomes your weakness and there's no doubt our set-piece was dominant early in the game, but the flipside was we had three opportunities in the last 10 minutes that we'd normally expect to nail.
"That's pressure and once you go through some of this pain, our job is to make sure we learn quickly from it, but we also have to take the team through that. Executing in those big moments is what test matches are all about."
After turning the tables on the world champion Springboks at their Ellis Park stronghold, Foster has been left pondering how to achieve consistency with his team.
"That's a good question and one I've got to join the rest of the NZ rugby fraternity in trying to find," he said. "We're working hard to find that and really it's about nailing the next moment - it's probably as simple as that.
"No doubt this is a team under pressure, trying to force things and make things happen. We're fighting our way through that, but if you don't nail the next moment at this level, you get caught and get frustrated, and that seems to be what happened today.
"I was a bit surprised by us in the last quarter to be honest. I felt the team was really moving in a strong direction... but we didn't execute in some big moments at the end and that's how you get that consistency."
The All Blacks get a chance to rectify those shortcomings against the same opponents in seven days at Hamilton's FMG Stadium.
Join us at 7pm Saturday for live updates of the All Blacks v Argentina Rugby Championship clash
