'A few sort of simple errors': Cane explains shock All Blacks loss

All Blacks skipper Sam Cane has blamed “a few simple errors” for his team’s latest damaging setback, Saturday’s demoralising 25-18 home defeat to Argentina in Christchurch. The captain would have felt his team had turned a massive corner when winning last time out away to the Springboks in Johannesburg, a victory that put an end to a run of five losses in six matches.

That win resulted in New Zealand Rugby backing the under pressure Ian Foster as head coach, stating that he would remain in the job through to the 2023 World Cup finals in France. However, that decision will now come under further scrutiny after the Pumas ambushed the All Blacks by overcoming a 15-12 half-time deficit.

The shock All Blacks loss left Cane looking bewildered when he conducted his post-match flash TV interview just minutes after the final whistle. Asked at the start if he felt like it was a game of missed opportunities, he replied: “Yeah, it certainly felt, particularly in the first half, we were a lot more dominant in areas than we were able to show on the scoreboard.

“A lot of credit has to go to the Argentinian side for the way they stuck at it and eventually turned the tables and ended up putting us under a lot of pressure that second half. We didn’t respond the way that we wanted. We made a few sort of simple errors that we don’t really like to make in Test footy and they were good enough to get the win tonight.”

The suffocating Argentina defence more than played its part in fashioning the Orangetheory Stadium shock. “They are a really good defensive side,” continued Cane, who didn’t finish the match on the pitch as he was hooked shortly after conceding a penalty for tackling an opponent without the ball.

“As I said earlier in the week they are probably one of the better defensive sides in the world. Look, we recycled the ball well enough but we weren’t able to convert it into points.”

It was next curiously put to Cane that there were a lot of positives on the night for the beaten All Blacks. “Particularly scrum and maul time and hence the reason we had a crack a couple of times, got pulled up on one or two technicalities.”

Was it frustrating? “Yeah, it certainly felt like there wasn’t much rhythm or flow in the game, it was stop-start. There wasn’t much continuous play. But yeah, the footy is always different.”

You have another chop at it next week? “Yeah, we travel up to Hamilton tomorrow [Sunday] and we will have another crack. We have got to be better than we were tonight.”

Delighted Argentina skipper Julian Montoya said: “I’m very proud of our team. We worked very hard for this. We are really starting to believe in what we can do, that it is not just a magic moment like the first year. We just need to keep on working, We will enjoy this but we have got another game in seven days. Very, very proud, very, very happy.”