South Africa’s Super Rugby exit ‘sad for young players’

Samcane’s battered body would have been dancing for joy but the All Blacks captain is also mourning what South Africa’s exit from Super Rugby will mean for young players in New Zealand.

Cane and fellow senior pro Aaron Smith fronted media yesterday during All Blacks camp in Hamilton, and while both could see the positives of the morning’s news that South Africa had confirmed they would be sending teams north to the Pro14, it was also tinged with a degree of sadness.

‘‘To be fair, there’d been whispers and we’d heard that it was probably going to be on the cards for the last couple of years,’’ Cane said of the news. ‘‘So we’d sort of wondered if it was only amatter of time.

‘‘When you get lucky enough to play international rugby, we’ll still have that awesome challenge of going over there. For me, I don’t think there’s much bigger challenge than playing a South African team in front of a packed out South African crowd.

‘‘Put your Super Rugby hat on, it’s a bit of a shame that a lot of those young guys won’t get to experience that.’’

Veteran halfback Smith echoed his skipper’s views.

‘‘With the Super Rugby aspect of it, it’s definitely going to be very sad for them,’’ he said of the impact on younger Kiwi players.

‘‘I’ve always enjoyed my times in South Africa but, not to be ungrateful, to go there sort of 20 times, you kind of lose that. That 14-hour flight, the long flight back.

‘‘But at a test level, you hope that you don’t lose that. Because they’re the best games, they’re the ones you remember.’’

Smith said with the impact of Covid-19 on everything, each country just had to do whatever was best for them.

‘‘They’re doing what they’re doing, and we’ve just got to do what we can. If we can play Super Rugby, have the Aussies in, I think our connection with Australia being so close is key and critical to both countries.’’

Cane said with how successful he felt Super Rugby Aotearoa was, if they could mix that in with Australia that would be ideal, and ‘‘still get an awesome product’’.

‘‘I would hate to play each other [Kiwi derbies] three times, so if we can open up and get something going with a few of those Aussie teams that’d be brilliant,’’ Cane said. ‘‘Who knows, maybe a bit more of a North v South fixture, not just a one-off.’’

Meanwhile, Cane brushed off the safety concerns thrown up by the Springboks ahead of their participation in the Rugby Championship.

Former coach and now director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, suggested the All Blacks and Wallabies will be too advanced in their preparations, leaving the Boks underdone and vulnerable.

But Cane was convinced the world champions would be fit and firing by the time they hit Australia.

‘‘Howmany games are they going to get before flying down? Five? I think from a personal point of view if I had five Super Rugby games I’d feel ready to play a test match.’’