Cameron’s rocky ride now taking turn for the better
It’s fair to say the past nine months haven’t quite gone to plan for Brett Cameron.
2019 had promised so much. After all, the Canterbury and Crusaders first-five eighth was donning an All Black jersey in Tokyo just last November, when he debuted against Japan with a
10-minute stint off the bench. Cameron’s rise to the top was rapid, given he only played one Super Rugby match for the Crusaders last year, and had cracked coach Steve Hansen’s extended squad for the end-of-yeartour on the back of his provincial form for Canterbury.
But the 22-year-old has since had a bumpy ride, and he isn’t afraid to admit it.
Rather than kicking on and cementing himself as Richie Mo’unga’s backup at the Crusaders, he fell out of favour and Mitch Hunt was preferred on the bench down the stretch.
When all was said and done and the Crusaders had won the 2019 title, Cameron had contributed just 104 minutes through five appearances (one start).
‘‘It was tough at times but I sort of knew that I was probably going to face a bit of that,’’ Cameron told Stuff.
‘‘The Super Rugby campaign had so much learning every week, just training and everything else that comes with it.’’
Perhaps the single biggest lesson for Cameron went down in March, when the Crusaders were upset by the Waratahs on a slippery night in Sydney.
The Whanganui product had been asked to start at first-five while Mo’unga took the first of his All Blacks rest weeks, but was yanked after 50 error-ridden minutes.
‘‘It’s always tough having a bit of a rough performance like that, but you’ve got to expect to have off games and it was a bit for the whole team. There was plenty of learnings that came from that, and I took a lot of confidence from it as well,’’ he said this week.
Having played so little rugby this year, the Lincoln University pivot is now desperate to put the lessons to use in provincial rugby.
Cameron, who kicked four conversions in Canterbury’s 31-28 season opening loss to Waikato last weekend, will again don the No 10 jersey for the red and blacks tomorrow, when they host competition favourites Tasman in Christchurch.
‘‘Just being a leader and really driving our back line. We’ve still got some good experience there that I can draw from, but just taking on a big leadership role,’’ Cameron said, before admitting getting a taste of the All Blacks had whet his appetite.
‘‘An experience like that is always going to make you pretty hungry to get something else like that. I guess it is in the back of your mind, but my focus is just making sure I get consistent performances this year and other things will come from there.’’
Canterbury, who missed almost 40 tackles during their shock defeat to Waikato last weekend, are in the unusual position of going into a home match as the underdog.
Assistant coach Nathan Mauger didn’t gloss over the fact Canterbury didn’t reach the standard expected of them last weekend, something he knows they’ll have to do – and then some – against a white-hot Mako unit. ‘‘We missed far too many tackles last week. I think it was around 37, and quality teams are going to make you pay,’’ Mauger said. ‘‘On the other side of the ball, we felt we left too many tries on the field as well. Just not taking our opportunities. That’s a couple of key areas for this week’s game that we’re looking to sharpen up.’’
‘‘The Super Rugby campaign had so much learning every week, just training and everything else that comes with it.’’