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'I'm not seeing it that way at all': Sam Cane shoots down journo's suggestion

(Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

The All Blacks are down on wins with just one from their last six tests but captain Sam Cane doesn’t believe they have reached the point to play with a “nothing to lose” mentality.

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As the current Freedom Cup holders, a win at Ellis Park this weekend would see the trophy – contested between New Zealand and South Africa annually – retained for another year and extend their reign, which started back in 2010.

The last time the Springboks held the Freedom Cup was 2009, when they completed a three-game sweep over the All Blacks, but they have not touched the trophy since.

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A win over the favourite Springboks would also get New Zealand’s Rugby Championship campaign back on track and put a dent in the title hopes of South Africa, who will have to travel to Australia for two games against the Wallabies.

When asked if the All Blacks are treating this game as one with nothing to lose, Cane shot down suggestions that they have nothing to play for.

“Nah, I’m not seeing it that way at all,” Cane responded.

“There is a trophy on the line, we are playing at Ellis Park and we are desperate to improve and put up better performances than we are, so there is as much on the line as there has ever been.”

With reports suggesting this might be Ian Foster’s last game as head coach regardless of the result, there is certainly a different kind of pressure building around the All Blacks, which they have not experience in recent times.

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Cane admitted he does feel the weight of a nation, but the only way to deal with it is to reframe it into a positive.

“You certainly feel it, it’s impossible not too,” he said.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. It’s always part of being an All Black, but without a doubt it’s extra pressure.

“You can see it as a burden or just try and embrace it and see it as an extra challenge. I think that is the only way you can view it, use it as a positive, as funny as that sounds.”

The All Blacks are using last week’s loss as motivation to improve in areas like the breakdown, where Malcolm Marx scuppered them numerous times with three turnovers.

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Cane said the team would much rather be in South Africa with a chance to atone for the defeat and improve in those areas instead of sitting on a plane heading back home.

“I said to our team in the sheds after the game, as disappointing and as much as it hurt, there is nowhere else we would rather be as a team than to be here and have another crack at them,” he said.

“If we were to be on a plane home and have that to dwell about, it would’ve been pretty tough.

“To be able to get back on the horse straight away and focus on having another crack at them, it’s hugely exciting.

“Without a doubt some of the breakdown work is our area of focus.”

The All Blacks were again plagued by a slow start in Mbombela, with back-to-back infringements at scrum time handing South Africa the chance to put pressure on early with possession in a good attacking zone.

The home side eventually scored in the eighth minute after a high ball was dropped, which extended the All Blacks’ run of not scoring the first try in a test to seven matches.

The last time they scored the first try was against Italy in Rome on last year’s end-of-year tour.

“There is no way we want to be starting a test match like that,” Cane said.

“We had the first scrum and gave away a free kick, and then they took a scrum and they won a penalty. Things like that affect the momentum, particularly early on in a test match, so we’ve just got to do our best to control those moments.

“Execute our small roles, whether that’s at a breakdown, whether that is a ball carry, all the little parts of footy.

“All it is is executing under pressure and if you can do that, we can put ourselves in the right part of the field.”

Cane said being in preparation mode helps the side focus on processes and not dwell on potential outcomes.

“When we are in camp like this, the week is so structured, everything is focused around ways to get better and improve,” he said.

“When you constantly have that mindset to look and find areas to get better at, you don’t allow yourself, or if you do find yourself thinking about things like that, you check yourself and pull yourself back to focus on what is important and what you can control.

“And just put all your energy and focus into that because we all know within the team in professional sport, if you start focusing on the outcome, it’s always the process and the little steps that go into that, that get the outcome you are after.

“No point doing it the other way round.”

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Comments

2 Comments
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Silk 833 days ago

Clutching at straws. NZ need iron men like McCaw, Kaino, etc Co in their forwards. That is it. No more no less. The poor backline is on the backfoot alk the time

R
Rugbee McClaw 834 days ago

Sam Cane's reality is different to everyone else's - let's be kind everyone.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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