Cane Filthy on Force, Named on Bench
Chiefs co-captain and All Blacks skipper Sam Cane admits he’s dirty with the way his latest injury was able to occur and surprised that the referees couldn’t later get involved.
Sidelined for the past two Super Rugby Pacific games with a knee problem, the openside flanker will return in Friday night’s semifinal against the Crusaders in Christchurch, though it will be via the bench, with coach Clayton McMillan opting for continuity in his loose trio as he waited till late in the week for his skipper to prove his fitness.
But while he’s delighted to be back on the park, Cane wasn’t about to hide his grievance about the play that caused his fortnight out, having had his right leg dived into by Argentina prop Santiago Medrano in the win over the Force in Hamilton on May 21.
“Yeah, pretty unhappy,” Cane told Stuff when asked about the incident post-training on Wednesday.
“Directly in the side and sort of targeting lower limbs – we’ve seen in league anything round those areas have been ruled out.
“The refs told me there’s nothing they can rule on, it’s not classed as foul play so the TMO can’t interfere.
“But it’s not a nice feeling having your knee buckling like that, and I’m probably lucky it wasn’t worse off when I look at the footage, it buckled a long way in.”
While initially reported as an MCL strain, Cane also revealed there was actually more to it than that.
“The scan showed a few different things, it was a lot different to what we thought,” he said. “So it was a bit more than a strain.
“I’ve got some inflammation on the outside of my knee as well, and the tear, we don’t know if it was old or new, but it was a decent size. But the main thing is that it’s feeling good, so we’ll just go with that.”
After being left out of the finalround game against the Fijian Drua, Cane was on the brink of returning for the quarterfinal against the Waratahs but didn’t quite make it.
There is of course an All Blacks squad being named next Monday, too, and with other players performing well, he said he hasn’t as much felt the pressure as much as just “an accumulation of frustrations” with this setback.
–Rugby Heaven
LINE UP:
CRUSADERS (1-15): George Bower, Codie Taylor, Oli Jager, Scott Barrett (c), Sam Whitelock, Pablo Matera, Tom Christie, Cullen Grace, Bryn Hall, Richie Mo’unga, Leicester Faninga’anuku, David Havili, Jack Goodhue, Sevu Reece, Will Jordan
RESERVES: Brodie McAlister, Tamaiti Williams, Fletcher Newell, Zach Gallagher, Corey Kellow, Mitch Drummond, Braydon Ennor, George Bridge
CHIEFS (1-15): Aidan Ross, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Angus Ta’avao, Brodie Retallick, Tupou Vaa’i, Samipeni Finau, Luke Jacobson, Pita Gus Sowakula, Brad Weber (c), Bryn Gatland, Etene Nani-Seturo, Quinn Tupaea, Alex Nankivell, Jonah Lowe, Josh Ioane
RESERVES: Bradley Slater, Ollie Norris, George Dyer, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Sam Cane, Xavier Roe, Rameka Pohipi, Chase Tiatia
Referee: Nic Berry
Assistant Referees: Brendon Pickerill, Jordan Way