Sir John Kirwan has asked the All Blacks to reset as Ireland has caught on and are now better. He knows coach Ian Foster is under pressure.
"Just outplayed by a better team," Sir John told Te Ao Toa on Sunday.
"The attacking structures of Ireland are unbelievable. They've been playing like that for the last few years."
"It was a hard night, it was a pretty convincing series win after all. I think it just needs to be a reset for the All Blacks because it's been a pretty lean couple of years."
"We talk a lot about this about the Warriors," he said. "If you're a All Blacks fan and a Warriors fan like me - and a Blues fan, obviously - there's not a lot of margin at that level.
"Everyone goes 'oh, we got pumped' but often it's just a couple of per cent."
"The NZR are going to go away, there's a lot of pressure on the coach - and once that starts happening, it's very difficult for the team to actually get confidence and play with confidence, which is something we're not used to seeing from the All Blacks.
"Then you start seeing uncharacteristic errors and I just think that's all a cycle.
"A big reset I think is important."