All Blacks lodge official complaint over officiating in Rugby World Cup final

Ian Foster's men were unhappy with some of the decisions that went against them in the showpiece event.

New Zealand succumbed 12-11 to South Africa in Paris on Saturday as they failed to become the first four-time champions.

Instead, that honour went to the Springboks as Handre Pollard kicked four penalties in the narrow triumph last weekend.

The All Blacks played the majority of the match with 14 men after Sam Cane was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Jesse Kriel.

"We've already sent a file into World Rugby to get them to make a few comments on," Foster said. "Hopefully they do."

Asked to give specific examples of what they were unhappy with, the former New Zealand head coach responded: "Oh, I think you can guess."

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The general consensus was that Wayne Barnes and his team did an excellent job in what was a difficult match to referee, but the All Blacks may take umbrage over a couple of technical penalties.

It was also a match littered with cards, but Barnes had no other option with those. There were four in total, with Cane and Shannon Frizell, who was sin-binned, being punished for the All Blacks, and Cheslin Kolbe and Siya Kolisi seeing yellow for the Springboks.

Ultimately, it was the Boks who won the key moments in the match as Foster ended his tenure with an agonising defeat.

According to the head coach, he is now officially unemployed, but Foster and his backroom team will still review the final to see where they went wrong.

"It probably won't be officially, it certainly will be by me and our coaching group," he added.

The All Blacks boss will now ponder what he does next. Foster will surely not be short of offers from both club and national teams but, at the moment, the 58-year-old has not had a chance to look at his options.

"I've been on a plane for 24 hours," he said, before adding that he wasn't contactable while on board.

"Look, I'm old-school, I don't know how to use that. I actually like switching off, it was a pleasant relief to turn the phone off, to be fair.

"Look, I've just got home. I've literally got through there, I haven't slept much for a day, and I'm looking forward to going home and then just re-evaluating."

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