Captain canes his critics
That’s how you answer your critics. After being called out by an array of pundits, including former All Blacks great Sir John Kirwan, Sam Cane went out on his home stadium and showed everybody why he has the unconditional faith of his head coach.
And boy was that coach – Ian Foster, who’s no stranger to copping it from the experts – rapt with the response of his skipper who led a magnificent bounceback performance from the All Blacks at FMG Stadium Waikato on Saturday night in their seven-try 53-3 demolition of Argentina.
The All Blacks had a long list of standout performers in probably their most sustained performance of the season, including the force of nature that is hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho, the metronomic quality of No 8 Ardie Savea and a virtuoso display from centre Rieko Ioane.
But arguably no-one left the mark that Cane did as he married the three aspects of his craft – ballcarrying, defence and leadership – superbly. The captain led the New Zealand defence with 13 tackles (and just the single miss), ran for 24 metres on nine carries (with a defender beaten, and a clean break) and was behind a vastly improved tactical display from Foster’s men.
If there was a play that summed up the skip’s contribution it was his heavy involvement in the 61stminute try to Jordie Barrett where he featured multiple times in a surging attack that finished with him drawing and passing for his fullback to waltz in.
‘‘I was just proud of the way the guys hung in there, have not got tight under the pressure and played with a bit of ambition,’’ Foster said. ‘‘I was particularly proud of [Cane] for his week. He has been under the pump from various quarters, but I thought he might have answered a few questions.’’
Cane was asked his reaction to that praise. ‘‘It’s nice. Cheers, Foz,’’ said a player who is about as uncomplicated a fellow as you get in this All Blacks environment.
The 30-year-old No 7, who won his 84th test cap on Saturday, said it was special to be part of a response like that in front of nearly 22,000 fans on his home Super Rugby track. It’s why he stayed out as long as he did to interact with them post-game.
‘‘We’d be pretty quick to put our hand up and say we haven’t been proud of the performances we’ve put out at home,’’ said Cane of the unprecedented run of three straight defeats prior to Saturday’s runaway result. ‘‘We appreciate the support we receive ... fans spending their hard-earned cash to come and support you. It didn’t matter where it was in the country, we were pretty determined to put one on at home.
‘‘We’ve got only one more home game the rest of the year, so it felt like a good reward for a team that’s been working extremely hard behind the scenes.’’