Coach keeps faith with his captain Cane
Change is coming for the All Blacks, but not at the helm.
Head coach Ian Foster is adamant Sam Cane is to right man to be captain and yesterday confirmed him as skipper for the upcoming Rugby Championship, after it was widely tipped Sam Whitelock would take over the captaincy reins as questions over the loose forward’s form mounted.
‘‘I believe in him. I believe in him as a person, as a leader. I think the easiest thing to do when a series doesn’t go your way is to point the finger in blame and want people’s neck,’’ said Foster. ‘‘I’ve got a lot of faith in Sam as a player, as a person, and in the leadership group around him.’’
Foster said in the week since the All Blacks slumped a 2-1 series loss to Ireland – their fourth loss in five outings – there had been a lot of ‘‘robust conversations’’ among the management and leadership group.
Those conversations appear to have led to personnel changes within the All Blacks coaching roster, but Foster was unable to shed any light on what those changes will look like.
He added that he expected the changes to be in place ‘‘soon’’, but ‘‘out of respect for the process’’ he was unable to offer any further information.
However, Foster did confirm that former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, who joined the All Blacks set-up this season as a selector/analyst, will not be travelling to South Africa next week.
Stuff reported yesterday that NZ Rugby management were rethinking the All Blacks’ assistant coaching roster, with the jobs forwards coach John Plumtree and scrum coach Greg Feek considered most at risk.
It is understood that Plumtree and Feek did not review favourably following the end-ofyear tour in 2021, and players had again been consulted following the 2-1 home series defeat to Ireland.
It was also widely reported that Cane would step down as captain following the brutal series loss to Ireland, in which his form and leadership came under fire in some quarters.
Cane was an unexpected choice for captain when Foster took the helm in 2019, with many tipping Whitelock for the job given the veteran lock had served as Kieran Read’s understudy.
From the outset, Cane hasn’t had an easy time of it with the public, being in the awkward position of being seen as an unpopular coach’s pet.
But his performances on the field came under increasing scrutiny in the Ireland series, with English pundit Stuart Barnes singling out the 30-year-old following the All Blacks 42-19 season-opening victory over the Irish at Eden Park in Auckland.
Despite the impressive win, Barnes wrote there was a ‘‘huge problem’’ at the heart of the side, and questioned whether Cane was good enough to be on the field for the All Blacks.
Barnes’ views were widely recirculated by New Zealand media, prompting ‘‘please explain emails’’ to sports editors from NZ Rugby communications staff, hinting that the column had caused disquiet behind the scenes.
It was thought stepping out of the captaincy role would give Cane the opportunity to focus on his own game, with his position in the starting lineup increasingly under threat.
The only confirmed changes to the squad for the Rugby Championship is the inclusion of prop Ethan de Groot and loose forward Shannon Frizzell, earning recalls in place of Karl Tu’inukuafe and Pita Gus Sowakula.
The All Blacks squad will assemble on Monday ahead of their departure for South Africa next weekend.
‘‘What I know that our country should expect from this team is that we go away, we identify the key focuses, we go out there and we fix it, and play at the level that we want to play at,’’ said Foster.
‘‘I’m really excited about the opportunity to show you what this team is made of working alongside the players in this squad.’’