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'He responded to the criticism': Sir John Kirwan on Sam Cane's latest performance

Ardie Savea and Sam Cane of the All Blacks celebrate after winning The Rugby Championship match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Argentina Pumas at FMG Stadium Waikato on September 03, 2022 in Hamilton, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Former All Black wing John Kirwan has praised captain Sam Cane for one of his best performances in a ‘long, long time’ as the All Blacks defeated Argentina 53-3 in Hamilton to keep their Rugby Championship alive.

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Earlier this week there were calls from Kirwan for key All Blacks to be rested, in particular Cane himself in order to give Blues No 7 Dalton Papalii a start.

After a captain’s knock at FMG Stadium, the former Blues coach praised the captain’s effort in a full 80-minute performance by the All Blacks in the post-match show.

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“I think Sam Cane was one of the better players out there and he was under probably the most pressure,” Kirwan told the panel on Sky Sport NZ post-match.

“What they did was get off their line early, created errors from the opposition and then really capitalise on those errors.

“I thought he [Cane] was outstanding, I thought he responded to the criticism.”

Kirwan highlighted the defensive work that Cane was able to bring early in the test to pound the Pumas ball carriers backwards before showing the other areas of his game.

The captain had a hand in a stunning try to Jordie Barrett, punching through the line to provide the last pass to finish off a 90-metre movement from under their own goal posts.

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“He started early by just bashing people, doing the simple stuff and really hurting people. Then he started to carry well and support well.

“It was one of the best performances I’ve seen from him for a long, long time.

“I think what we all want now from the All Blacks is consistency in the next game.

“And the players if they need to be rested, Whitelock, Cane, because they have a lot of K’s on the clock, we need to do that as well otherwise we’ll break them.”

Sam Cane was equally satisfied with the team’s performance after the disappointing 25-18 loss in Christchurch last week.

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He was most pleased with the defensive performance which kept the Pumas to a solitary penalty goal.

“Obviously massively important [win], we were under a bit of pressure and we weren’t happy with what we dished up last week,” he told Sky Sport NZ after the game.

“Although we felt like we were in the game, this week we were in the game right from the start and turn that into points. It was a pretty enjoyable night.

“I thought our defence was outstanding, we were able to force them into a heck of a lot of errors. On top of that, our discipline was very good.

“Also pleased we kept it on for the full 80. It was a pretty complete performance tonight.

The All Black captain said that the impressive length of the field try was an example of the mindset that they have tried to preserve during this stretch of challenging tests.

“That’s our attacking mindset, we had an advantage at the other end off the scrum so we threw it, had a crack and scored 90-metres later.

“We’re really stoked to be able to put out a proud performance at home which we’ve not really done this year.”

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Oh no, not him again? 1 hour ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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