Cane prepared for a big battle
Sam Cane’s excitement is genuine.
Few players will be more in the firing line at Loftus Versfeld, when New Zealand meet South Africa tomorrow morning (NZT), than Cane.
There’s nowhere to hide when you’re an openside flanker and few rugby contests more willing than those between the All Blacks and Springboks.
Some players might shrink from that, but not this bloke. And certainly not in this situation, where the All Blacks have the recent 36-34 defeat to South Africa still gnawing away at them.
‘‘I’m relishing challenge of facing them over here – I just don’t think it gets much tougher,’’ Cane told reporters in Pretoria.
‘‘At altitude, their crowd, them in hot form. It’s sort of us versus a few elements and it sort of gets you going eh. It’s going to be big.’’
Recovering from playing Argentina in Buenos Aires, along with the lengthy trip, has been the All Blacks’ focus since arriving in South Africa. Training has been light as the team try to get their mental preparation right.
‘‘What I have noticed is we’ve had a lot of, like, small little chats and get-togethers with different connections,’’ Cane said.
‘‘Like the loose forwards have sat down a couple of times to go over things that are important to us and how we fit into the gameplan etcetera. the
Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Aphiwe Dyantyi, Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk, Francois Louw, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff. Reserves: Bongi Mbonambi, Tendai Mtawarira, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Embrose Papier, Elton Jantjies, Damian Willemse. I’ve seen and heard the other players are doing the same so that’s probably the difference [this week].’’
That and the fact the All Blacks are coming off an embarrassing defeat. Never mind last Sunday’s win over in Argentina. This trip has all been about atoning for what happened in Wellington back on September 15.
Every loss hurts the All Blacks, but that one was different. Not only didn’t they get near to reaching the standards they set for themselves, they then had a long time to stew over it. It’s easier to put a game behind you when there’s another on it’s way in a few days, but there wasn’t that luxury after events at Westpac Stadium.
‘‘Straight after [the match] it’s just genuine disappointment and then you let it settle for a while. Because we had a week off, you go back and look at your game and then the disappointment’s even more real because you see so many things you could’ve done better,’’ Cane said.
New Zealand’s failings in that match have been done to death. The bottom line is people should expect them to play better this time. If not, then we really will have something to talk about.
A bit’s been made of the All Blacks’ useful record at Loftus where, 1970 aside, they’ve won each of their previous outings. Not that Cane and company take any comfort from that.
‘‘Different years, different players, different teams,’’ he said.