Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'It's not the easiest job in the world' - Foster's praise for Cane after All Blacks silence doubters

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

His job seemingly safe again, All Blacks coach Ian Foster has paid tribute to steely skipper Sam Cane for leading New Zealand out of a rut and to yet more rugby silverware.

ADVERTISEMENT

The All Blacks rebounded from back-to-back Test defeats for the first time in almost a decade with a 38-0 demolition of Argentina that secured the Tri Nations trophy to go with the Bledisloe Cup they’d already wrapped up for another year.

Foster entered Saturday night’s crunch match in Newcastle under intense heat with only two wins and a draw from his five-Test tenure since taking over from Steve Hansen.

Video Spacer

All Blacks coach Ian Foster and captain Sam Cane reflect on the 38-0 win over Argentina in Newcastle.

Video Spacer

All Blacks coach Ian Foster and captain Sam Cane reflect on the 38-0 win over Argentina in Newcastle.

But he ended the year in triumphant fashion and delighted that Cane, too, had silenced the doubters after a turbulent few weeks.

“Probably the nicest thing that I can say is that he did exactly what I would have expected of him (in the circumstances),” Foster said.

“It’s not the easiest job in the world and particularly when the knives come out and the pressure is on, it’s easy to doubt yourself.

“But I didn’t see any of that. I just saw someone who firmly believes and the group really had a firm belief in what we’re doing and he led that.

ADVERTISEMENT

“He led well and more importantly he went out and played well.”

Foster pointed out that it had been an unusually difficult campaign for all three teams, with the Tri Nations played in late spring after players were forced to endure time in quarantine and added weeks away from their families.

“It’s been an immensely difficult year for everyone,” he said.

“So this is not about the All Blacks. This is everyone. We feel for Argentina. They’ve been over here for a long time and you saw the commitment that they showed.

“A fortnight ago, (after losing to the Pumas for the first time ever), we’d just played our fifth Test in six weeks and it was tough.

“You saw Argentina play their third Test in three weeks and that’s tough, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed that it’s getting quite hot here.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It’s been a lot of challenges for all the teams. It’s been great that rugby’s been playing so hats off to everyone here who have been able to organise all this. It’s been fantastic.

“But for us, there’ll still be a few niggly hurt moments about particularly the loss to Argentina but at least we got a chance to fix it and show that we can play.

“This group is developing. We’ve got a bit more to go. We’re clear about that but it’s a better way to finish.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

T
Tom 4 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

2 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Ian Foster: 'You kid yourself that we were robbed' Ian Foster: 'You kid yourself that we were robbed'
Search