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Sam Cane's generous words for David Pocock

Sam Cane

While the return of David Pocock to Test rugby remains uncertain, All Blacks flanker Sam Cane believes the Wallabies superstar will savour every moment when he finally gets back on the field.

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Pocock hasn’t played since March due to a problematic calf injury and while that has Wallabies fans wringing their hands ahead of this year’s World Cup in Japan, it’s nothing compared to Cane’s own injury battle.

The 27-year-old broke his neck playing in an All Blacks Test against South Africa in Pretoria last October, with the injury career-threatening.

Cane spent seven months on the sidelines before returning to Super Rugby in May and after taking on Argentina last month, is set to face the Wallabies in Perth in their Rugby Championship/Bledisloe Cup clash on Saturday night.

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Cane said Pocock would have a new appreciation for playing for his country after so long out.

“Rugby is a team sport until you get injured and then it feels like you’re chipping away on your own for a long time,” Cane said.

“During those times there’s little steps and goals and my goal was to get back to wearing the black jersey and David, the gold jumper.

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“Should he get that opportunity I’m sure he will savour it more because of all the hard work and steps he has to take to get there.”

The Chiefs ace says once the physical work is done the challenge to return to the top level becomes mental.

He admitted to having some doubts before his first Super Rugby match.

“It’s about your ability to push that to one side,” Cane said.

“You’re always going to have those little voices in one area of your brain telling you to be careful or a little bit hesitant but you can’t let them be too overpowering.

“You need to let your other part of your brain say, ‘You’ve done the work – you’re alright and rip in’.”

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The All Blacks are convinced that Pocock will play on Saturday although talk around the Wallabies camp is that he will be kept on ice.

Whenever he does play, Cane said that after 76 Tests Pocock would shine.

“I expect him to come back and be right in the thick of things,” he said.

“Your match fitness is normally not quite where you want it to be but because you’ve been in those situations before you can just push on through and a guy like David Pocock, there’s not a big margin between his best and worst games.”

– AAP

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Tom 6 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.”

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