Deprived of their captain, a last-minute withdrawal, the All Blacks only lasted an hour against the Blues, before collapsing physically (13-27). A big month later, while France said goodbye to the competition, the men in black once again look like scarecrows after their victory against Ireland in an epic quarter-final (28-24).
A major player in the New Zealanders’ victory against the Clover XV, Sam Cane reflects his team in full renaissance. Highly contested since becoming captain of the Kiwis in 2020, number 7 has silenced the critics. “He had a crazy game,” said scrum-half Aaron Smith. He invests himself fully, with great attention to his role as captain. His calm in difficult times is precious, his words are true.
Criticized by the press of his country and by social networks after the series of three defeats of the Blacks at home in 2022 (two losses against Ireland and one… against Argentina), Cane was also mocked by the third- Irish line Peter O’Mahony, who then described him as “under Richie McCaw”. It’s true that it’s not easy to compare with the double world champion (2011 and 2015). But, last Saturday against the Greens, Sam Cane achieved an exceptional performance. Along with Ardie Savea and Shannon Frizell, the captain made a fierce third line shine.
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Coming out in the 75th minute, Cane stepped up to support and was often the first to clear the rucks and protect the ball. He scratched 2 balls and cut 21 Irish, making almost 10% of New Zealand’s total tackles. Hugo Keenan notably suffered a terrible stamping inflicted by the flanker (62nd).
Richie McCaw, in person, did not hide his admiration: “He had one of his best performances,” said the Blacks legend. He’s the kind of player who puts out the right performance at the right time. He fulfilled his mission as number 7 on a physical level with a lot of tackles and constant pressure. He knew how to keep his calm.” A fine player, Cane, in a position of strength, did not (too much) want to fuel the controversy with O’Mahony: “It’s true that sometimes, some of their players (the Irish) do everything to make you go crazy but we , we concentrate on what we have to do.”
The flanker silenced the critics and drew a line under the problems. He notably suffered a serious injury during a match against South Africa in 2018. A fracture in his cervical spine which kept him away from the field for more than a year. Between concussions and a tear in his pectoral muscles, he then had accumulated physical problems. From ancient history.
Number 7 (1.89 m; 103 kg) with 92 selections is (finally) unanimous and gets his revenge. He has another one to take on Friday against Argentina: “Many of us have injuries and scars from 2019 (editor’s note: semi-final defeat against England). There are going to be two different Mondays next week and one of them will be horrible…” It’s hard to imagine anything other than a Monday in the sun for Black back in full light.
