What Sam Cane's All Blacks recall means for his fellow flankers

Former New Zealand captain Sam Cane is back in black in Scott Robertson’s Rugby Championship squad, a selection that has raised some questions over the current crop’s performances.

Six flankers made the July Series squad and when push came to shove it was Dalton Papali’i backed for Cane’s No. 7 jersey against England. Samipeni Finau started at blindside and Luke Jacobson provided impact off the bench.

Of course, it was reigning World Rugby Player of the Year Ardie Savea holding down the back of the scrum at No. 8, one of the few players whose jersey is all but guaranteed in the starting XV.

Cane’s reintroduction to the squad was celebrated by Robertson on Sunday, with the coach exclaiming “It’s great to have the sheriff back!” When appearing on The Breakdown.

He went on to praise the standards Cane drives within camp.

Former All Black Israel Dagg voiced his thoughts on the selection when asked this week, saying Cane enables the best version of those around him, specifically Savea.

Prompting Dagg’s thoughts was a thought from pundit Scotty Stevenson, who questioned whether the coaches had seen what they wanted from the loose forward trio in the opening three Tests of the year.

“I’m not surprised by this and I fully back the decision,” Stevenson said on SENZ. “But, is this an indication that neither (Dalton) Papali’i, (Luke) Jacobson or (Ethan) Blackadder have quite owned that No. 7 jersey? That the All Blacks are after quicker ball? That they need someone in there that can dominate both sides of the ball, both on attack with his cleanout work – Cane’s probably the best cleaning seven I think in New Zealand still – and then defensively around the ruck and that big stat that we talk about so often, back in game, and Sam Cane does that so well.

“They want quick ball. Scott Robertson bemoaned the fact that England tried to slow their ball down during that two-Test series here in New Zealand. Absolutely they do, every team tries to do that against the All Blacks so we need the players who can get in there and generate that quick ruck ball. Is that part of the reason Sam Cane is back?”

Dagg agreed with the diagnosis and went on to question when we might see Cane back on the field.

“That’s 100 per cent it, Sumo,” he replied. “You spoke about it a lot; Ardie Savea, in those two Tests, wasn’t able to have the impact – yes it could have been a lot of points around maybe coming back from Japan, having played less rugby, having tired legs, but you look at him against the Fijians and you had Ethan Blackadder who was immense, big in that performance, and Luke Jacobson, they do the hard yards. They get in there, they make their tackles, they’re very good around the park, and they run hard. That allows Ardie to focus on his other roles, core roles, and that’s what Sam Cane does.

“Sam Cane, he’s not really a big TV time player like you’ve alluded to, but he comes in, brings experience, tackles his heart out. For me, it’s where does Sam Cane come into it? How do they ease him into this All Blacks outfit?

“They’ve got Argentina, are they going to just throw him into the fold after two club rugby matches? I don’t think so. I think it’s more of an easing transition for Sam Cane but we’ll have to wait and see.

“There’s going to be winners, there’s going to be losers and there’s going to be debates.”