No break for Cane
No sabbatical, but no worries for Sam Cane.
The All Blacks openside flanker says there is nowhere he’d rather be, with yesterday’s announcement that he has re-signed with New Zealand Rugby, the Chiefs, and Bay of Plenty, until the end of the 2021 season.
And while the 25-year-old was able to quickly bat away any overseas offers that came his way because of his desires to achieve a heap more in the black jersey, it will literally be a case of staying put, with no sabbatical clause in his new deal.
Despite being part of the All Blacks’ leadership group, set to bring up his 50th test cap in Saturday night’s third Bledisloe Cup match against Australia in Brisbane, Cane hasn’t been afforded the same leave of absence which Ben Smith is currently undertaking, and which former stars Dan Carter, Richie McCaw and Conrad Smith also took nearing the end of their careers.
While Ben Smith has played just 15 more tests than Cane, the fact he is six years older, had had several concussion issues, and that NZR would have wanted to preserve him through to the 2019 World Cup, would have been key factors.
For the younger body of Cane, it’s just a case of powering on. But he noted that with the way teams operate now there was always due diligence taken in terms of not overloading, anyway.
‘‘Sabbaticals aren’t easy to come by,’’ he quipped.
‘‘Four years, playing a lot of rugby, is a long time. I think squads and coaches are a little bit better at managing players, and aware of it, these days. So hopefully that will get me through.
‘‘I think the key thing is that when you are feeling tired or banged up or you’re thinking ‘geez, I’m just hanging in there’, you just be honest with it. And what we’ve found in the last couple of years is they’re [the coaches] really receptive to that, they want to do what’s best for you because then they’ll get the best result from you out on the field.’’
Cane said the re-signing was ‘‘absolutely’’ a weight off the shoulders, as he looks forward to rounding out the test season, with a five-match northern hemisphere tour approaching.
‘‘It’s been in the pipeline for a wee while, going back and forth with a few things. But in the end it wasn’t a hard decision, it was just about getting all the details around it right,’’ he said, adding that nothing from outside New Zealand tempted him.
‘‘There’s a few things that came in, but I didn’t look at them seriously or for any length of time, it’s not really fair on the clubs overseas if you’re mucking round when you’re not really interested, so I said ‘thanks, but no thanks’ and worked on getting it sorted back here.’’
Having gone to a new level in the No 7 jersey in recent times, as the valiant challenges of the likes of Ardie Savea and Matt Todd keep coming, Cane doesn’t have the national captaincy - something he has experienced on two occasions already - in his sights, but is instead just simply focused on playing well, including being a leading light at the 2019 World Cup.
‘‘The last couple of years, getting to have a few more run-on starts is something that’s spurred me on a little bit more too, and it’s something I’m excited about,’’ he said, in reference to taking over after the retirement of McCaw in
2015.
‘‘From a player’s point of view, there’s a difference between being involved in winning the World Cup and playing a major role on the field.
‘‘I played in most of the games at the [2015] World Cup, but just the couple of starts. So it takes on a different dynamic, and it’s something I’ll be striving for, to play a major role in some of those big games and the big moments.’’
Cane, who made his test debut in 2012 during his second season of Super Rugby, becomes the second player, after hooker Codie Taylor, to have committed with NZR through till 2021.
‘‘Growing up, Bay of Plenty, the Chiefs and the All Blacks are all teams that I grew up supporting, and in the professional era it’s not always the case that you get to play for teams that you’ve always loved,’’ he said.
‘‘At this stage in my career, and I’m predicting for the next four years, there’s nowhere else I want to be. So that’ll take me through to
29, and then we’ve got the chance to reassess, see how the body and the mind’s going, and make a decision from there.’’