Battle at the breakdown is key to victory

Tokyo – All Blacks flanker Sam Cane is relishing facing up to England’s “pretty impressive” Tom Curry and Sam Underhill (right) in their World Cup semifinal on Saturday, with the battle at the breakdown key to advancing to the final.

Curry and Underhill, who England coach Eddie Jones has dubbed “The Kamikaze Kids”, have been standouts in England’s strong forward pack at the World Cup.

They got the better of Michael Hooper and the world-class David Pocock in their quarterfinal in Oita on Saturday to advance to the semifinals for the first time in 12 years and face the All Blacks in Yokohama.

“They have very good skill sets.

They have been really impressive.”

The England duo were only paired together by Jones in their final World Cup warm-up matches, something that All Blacks coach Steve Hansen also did with Cane, the first choice openside flanker since Richie McCaw retired in 2015, and Ardie Savea.

Savea’s form this year made it hard for Hansen not to find a way to fit him into the starting team, and after he failed to settle on a first-choice blindside flanker he selected Savea in the No 6 jersey.

Cane, Savea and captain and number eight Kieran Read have been the preferred loose forward combination since the All Blacks’ first Bledisloe Cup fixture against Australia in Perth.

The All Blacks were hammered 47-26 by the Wallabies, although they were not helped by Scott Barrett’s red card.

After their thrashing at the hands of the Wallabies, where the smaller Cane and Savea were dominated by Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and Isi Naisarani, the All Blacks openside was initially unsure if Hansen would persist with the approach.

Hansen, however, stuck with the combination.

“I guess it might show how the game has evolved,” Cane said. “We know how teams are so structured and the best chance to attack from (unstructured play) is from turnover ball so you might increase your chances ever so slightly.” – Reuters