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‘Live with forever’: All Blacks captain Sam Cane reacts to red card
By Finn Morton
All Blacks captain Sam Cane was visibly hurting after the Rugby World Cup final. New Zealand were bested 12-11 by South Africa and Stade de France, and a key moment involving Cane was a talking point.
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For the first time ever in men’s Rugby World Cup final history, a player was sent from the field – and it was captain Cane. The skipper was initially sent to the sin bin following a high shot on Springboks centre Jesse Kriel midway through the first half.
But the incident went under review. An anxious five minutes followed before referee Wayne Barnes officially confirmed that the incident had been upgraded to a red card offence.
Off camera, Cane dropped his head into his hands as referee Barnes showed the skipper red.
The All Blacks had to play 55 minutes with 14 players, and that doesn’t include flanker Shannon Frizell’s time in the sin bin earlier in the Test. It left the All Blacks in a mighty tough spot.
New Zealand had a few opportunities to snatch World Cup glory from the jaws of defeat at the death, but it wasn’t to be in the end. The All Blacks lost a thriller, and unfortunately for Cane, his red card is just something “I am going to have to live with.”
“Look, at the time I wasn’t even aware, it caught me off guard that he stepped back. But we have been here for two months now and anything around the head has ramifications,” Cane told reporters after the final.
“I’m not here to discuss whether it was the right or wrong decision. It can’t be changed. Unfortunately, it is something I am going to have to live with forever.”
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Midfielder Jordie Barrett found himself on the side of the scrum in Cane’s absence as the All Blacks rallied back from the game-changing setback.
The All Blacks played with a one-man disadvantage for long periods of this Test, but it didn’t seem like it at times. If anything, New Zealand looked more threatening during the second term.
But the Springboks, just as they have throughout the entirety of the knockout stage, hung on when it counted. Test matches are won by fine margins, after all.
Coach Ian Foster praised captain Cane for his leadership after the final, and refused to pin the blame on the skipper’s send-off.
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“I think we’ve all seen the way Sam has contributed to the game, our team behind the scenes, he’s been fantastic, worthy of being captain of the All Blacks, which is a fantastic honour and a privilege and I think he’s carried that magnificently well and I am incredibly proud of him. I am incredibly proud to coach him,” Foster added.
“It’s a tough old day at the office when that happens and he’ll be feeling a lot of emotion I guess.
“There’s a few issues there, one is you look at the decision and say well, it is what it is, we can’t control that unfortunately. I didn’t feel we got the rub of the green in that first half, so we had to try and make our own luck but that was one that went against us.
“But the second thing is the heart and soul that the team showed afterwards to stay in that fight and I think that’s largely due to the spirit of the group and the spirit of the leaders and even though Sam wasn’t on, he was a big part of that.”
Everyone please take it easy on Sam, it’s only a game. We were unlucky the margins were tiny between glory and despair. Sam Cane is an upright hard working guy and its only rugby. Nothing compares to the other tragedies unfolding in the world. As an AB fan does it hurt? Yep but that’s true for France, Ireland and England too. Time to move on. I should add as I did elsewhere congrats to the Boks no excuses from us.
Clear mitigation, TMO who, for a big game, should be someone with Head Reffing experience. With Cane’s tackle, the player clearly side-steps into him and drops. What’s the mitigation for Kolisi’s tackle? Ardie makes no sudden movements. Such a shame, been a great WC, and it's a shame for it to be decided by some naff TMO’ing.
Cane can be in retreat now because he will be the public enemy number 1 in nz.
Razor will clean this squad with new generation and will win 🏆 in 2027
My unbiased SA view is that Sam Cane was a excellent younger plsyer when he hit the scene, but capataincy weighed too heavily on his shoulders. He's no McCaw or Fitzie. Always seemed to be like a schoolboy going out to be bullied at breaktime. Like the Aus with Hooper, the AB lacked a leader these last few years.
The last two scrums could have resulted in Kiwi penalties but like 2007 the referee bottled it. He should never have been trusted with the game in the first place. The TMO showed he was not fit for purpose when he ruled against two Bokke incidents that would have been red cards any other day of the week. Another missed opportunity for fairness was missed when Barrett received a swinging arm/fist scoring the only try.
The Bokke were guilty at almost every ruck of sealing off the ball.
All in all a horrorfest of suspect behaviour.
I wonder if the US will have the balls to mount an inquiry into World Rugby as it did for FIFA corruption.
Hilarious: SA wins and five total articles on this website about the game, two devoted to NZ ill-discipline and scoring one try?
Very sad feeling for this marvelous player. He has been written off and came back stronger. Immense respect AB sorry mates. Bokke just made history. World Champoins back to back. Wonder what mAtt Williams have to say 🤔 the moral god of rugby. That must have been a kick in the balls 🏈
Haters will hate and that is all there is to it, Foster and Cane will be bashed about by such tossers. ABs were outstanding, 6 points went against them due to the incorrect yellow card awarded against Frizell. Sam’s red was justified, but the ABs only came short in a game that was reffed very poorly. Well done Ian and Sam you can hold your heads up high along with the rest of the ABs and staff.
Bloody idiot, unworthy of the highest mantle of All Black captain. He already had a reputation of going missing when his teams needed him the most. And delivered big-time in the RWC final.
In retrospect, wonder if we’d have defended 37 phases v Ireland if he was on the paddock? I mean his stupidity in the Super Rugby final 8 mins left Chiefs 5 points up, hard on D, Cane gets unnecessarily yellowed, we score, go ahead, then shut the game down & cruise to the win.
By all accounts, Sam Cane is a decent human being. He’s also performed well in recent matches. In the press recently we little people have been chastised for criticizing his selection as the (at best) 3rd best open sider in the country. I’ve actually been a fan of his, particularly on the defensive side for many years, but I did not think he should start at 7, let alone be captain.
A year or two ago he said that the NZ public didn’t really understand rugby. Imagine the way that landed with the fans. It’s possibly true in the main, but why would you say that to camera to a rugby-obsessed nation? That’s where he lost me. I know of women in their sixties who have never played the game who are smarter than (IMO) Foster about this great sport. I’m not joking about that. I could name them.
Tonight, this (smarter than every person in NZ) captain needlessly dominantly smacked a Springbok. At the time it looked stupid and bad, later on review he was rightly pinged. I am a long-standing AB fan but he absolutely deserved to be sent off and I want to say clearly to him now that perhaps he might not in fact be the most rugby- knowledgeable human being in NZ.
Is this karma? Not sure. But he deserved to have his arse kicked. It’s just a shame that it had to come in the RWC final.