Cane ready for Kamikaze Kids

All Blacks No 7 Sam Cane will get a closer view of Eddie Jones’ Kamikaze Kids when he flies into the first ruck in the World Cup semifinal on Saturday night.

England coach Jones is expected to start specialist fetchers Tom Curry and Sam Underhill, who he has dubbed the Kamikaze Kids, against the All Blacks and no doubt hopes they can pilfer mouth-watering turnover ball, as well as tackle anything that twitches in a black jersey at Yokohama Stadium.

The trend of starting specialist opensiders on either of the scrum has gained popularity this year, something Cane knows all about.

Cane has been joined in the pack by Ardie Savea, who now wears No 6, and has proven to be a valuable asset with his highenergy output.

The Wallabies, who also started two fetchers in Michael Hooper and David Pocock when they lost 40-16 to England last weekend, already have an insight about the talents of Curry and Underhill after their team succumbed in Oita.

Between them Curry and Underhill made 36 tackles, and later a beaming Jones dubbed them the Kamikaze Kids.

Now for their duel against the All Blacks flankers in the semi, which could be something to savour.

Removing the option of starting a larger speciman at No 6 might make some conservative selectors wince, but Cane could understand the logic.

‘‘It probably shows where the game has evolved slightly, where the three [loose forwards] – particularly the flankers – roles don’t differ too much,’’ Cane said.

‘‘Teams are so structured and probably the best chance to attack England’s Tom Curry, right, and Sam Underhill are all smiles after their quarterfinal victory over Australia.

from unstructured is turnover ball, so you might increase your chances ever so slightly.’’

The All Blacks won’t need to be reminded about the third member of the English back row, Billy Vunipola.

Although the latter’s form has not been top drawer at this tournament, he can hurt opponents with his crunching tackles and ball carries.

The All Blacks are expected to retain the team that started the 46-14 win over Ireland in the quarterfinal in Tokyo last weekend, and if Matt Todd, another opensider, hasn’t recovered from a sore shoulder he will likely be replaced by Shannon Frizell on the bench. Cane, 27, will wear the No 7 jersey although for how long is uncertain.

Coach Steve Hansen surprisingly replaced him at halftime against Ireland, electing to send lock Scott Barrett on as a tactical change.

Cane and Savea have only started four times alongside each other in the new-look back row.

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