Category: Sports

This isn’t necessarily Sam Cane’s fault, but Groundhog Day in the All Blacks has a depressing familiarity. It’s Tuesday training, the skipper’s turn to speak, and out come the same upbeat phrases, same empty promises, same hollow assurances.

“We’re not far off,” says Cane. “We’re working hard. We’re desperate to improve. The effort is going in. We know what we have to do.” Yada, yada, yada. The All Blacks captain is saying what he has to, and is genuine in his tone of him.

But the problem is all these repeated pledges are foreshadowing the same bleak results as Cane proves unable to steer his team out of one of the worst form slumps in their proud history.

Since last November’s visit to Dublin, the All Blacks have been, not just beaten, but played off the park in five of their six test matches. It hasn’t even been close – and that’s what really irks New Zealanders who care about this national sporting team.

Cane bristled when stuff suggested that the All Blacks had lost the intensity and pressure battle against a quality Boks side in Mbombela last weekend.

“I don’t know about the intensity battle – I thought we had good intensity,” he shot back. “But I agree with the pressure. In key moments they were able to flip momentum, or when we were trying to get it they would nullify it.

“Some of those were controllable from our point of view… and trying to eliminate those will help. But that’s test match rugby – creating pressure, intensity and momentum. It’s all very well having one good moment, but it’s about following up with another, then another, then another.”

Cane is kidding himself if he thinks his All Blacks matched the South African intensity in Mbombela. From the opening skirmishes it was clear one team had come to take this match by the scruff of the neck, and the other was hanging on for dear life.

He was also irked when stuff suggested they had a free swing this week, nothing to lose almost. Their own country has lost faith in them, and even the TAB has them at $2.70 outsiders – unheard of in the modern era.

“We’re not seeing it that way at all,” he replied. “There is a trophy on the line, we’re playing at Ellis Park, we’re desperate to put out better performances. There is as much on the line as there’s ever been.”

He’s right. There’s even more on the line than that. All Blacks credibility, for starters. Legacy. Standing. The brand, the marketers might mutter. But that doesn’t change the fact that not many people who follow this game expect them to prevail early Sunday (NZT) at Fortress Ellis.

What Cane did agree with is that the weight of a nation rests heavily on his weary shoulders.

For all their inward focus, their blinkers, their circling of the wagons, these young men are well aware that their country is in despair over their dramatic fall from grace.

“You certainly feel it. It’s impossible not to and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” he said. “It’s always been part of being an All Black, the pressure, but without a doubt it’s extra pressure. You can look at it as a burden, or embrace it as an extra challenge. You can only try to use it as a positive – as funny as that sounds.”

This is not a dig at Cane, even if his form is not exactly inspiring. He had 10 tackles, with two misses, in Nelspruit, but carried for just a single meter on four runs. He is a quality person, and as a spokesman for the team he is honest and engaging, for the most part.

But he’s All Blacks captain, and his team is patently down on collective organization and inspiration. They look at times like they’re going through the motions, and he must shoulder some of that responsibility.

He says he does. “My job as captain is to lead on the field and training park and make sure we’re tight as a group and living and training the way we want to be. I can hand on heart say that’s the case at the moment.”

But he also says he’s “stoked” with the leadership in the group. “I couldn’t ask for anything more in terms of attitude. The frustrating part is that it’s not quite translating to the field yet. I know we’ll get there.”

Cane’s message to his team after the game was as much as it hurt, there nowhere else they would rather be. “If we were on the way home and had that to dwell on, it would have been pretty tough. To be able to get back on the horse straight away for another crack, it’s hugely exciting.

“I don’t think we’re far off. A few people have said it wasn’t an improved performance. In-house we’ve looked and there were some definite steps in the right direction. The whole focus is to keep taking those steps.”