'I put my hand up': Ian Foster's big decision regarding Sam Cane
The All Blacks have just one final test remaining in their season after falling to a 29-20 victory in Dublin over the weekend. That means Ian Foster’s men have just one chance to redeem themselves before taking a well-earned rest over the New Zealand summer.
Almost half the 40-man will have already played their final game this year. Some will have played that final game last weekend in the scrappy but ultimately comfortable victory over Italy, but there’s one man who’s optimistic he’s put himself into the selection frame to play France after sitting out the loss to Ireland.
Sam Cane only made his return to the field late last month, earning 30 minutes off the bench against the United States. An injury suffered while representing the Chiefs in March saw the All Blacks captain sit out the bulk of the season with Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith and Ardie Savea taking on the leadership responsibilities in his absence, and Savea, Dalton Papalii and Ethan Blackadder filling his vacated No 7 jersey throughout the year.
Cane, however, believes he’s now ready to run out against an up-and-coming France outfit this weekend, having clocked up 110 minutes of international action since his return, and is hopeful the selectors read his name out later this week when naming the side to take on Les Bleus in Paris.
“I’m doing really good, have really enjoyed the last month or so away with the team and the first full 80 [minutes] against Italy, 10 days ago now, I felt like I put my hand up to hopefully play one of these last two tests,” Cane said on Monday.
“Whether that happens or not, we’ll have to wait and see but that’s all I can really do, put my hand up when it comes to playing and show that I’m up to it again. We’ll have to wait and see but hopefully.”
It’s a tough conundrum for head coach Foster, who will desperate to round out the year with a victory. Injecting Cane into the mix would mean breaking up the trio of Blackadder, Papalii and Savea, who were all industrious in defeat.
There’s also the other loose forwards in the squad to consider.
Like Cane, Shannon Frizell travelled to the USA and onto Europe directly from New Zealand after missing the Australian leg of the 10-game tour. His only match-day involvement to date was 28 minutes off the bench against Italy.
Luke Jacobson and Akira Ioane, meanwhile, have both flourished at various stages throughout the season for the All Blacks, with Ioane the incumbent No 6 at the beginning of the year but losing his place to Blackadder following the first test against the Springboks during the Rugby Championship. Ioane now hasn’t started a game since that clash, while Jacobson was used at number 8 in the second of the tests with South Africa but has been forced to cover the blindside flank in recent appearances in order to accommodate Hoskins Sotutu.
It's now or never for the All Blacks' fringe loose forwards. #ITAvNZL #AllBlacks
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Both Jacobson and Ioane will be hungry for minutes this weekend but Foster will be less than enthused about swapping out his entire loose forward trio – or even two of the three starters from the weekend gone.
Even if the likes of Cane, Frizell and Jacobson aren’t called upon to face France, however, the full-time All Blacks captain has insisted that spending time within the All Blacks camp has still been just as beneficial for development as it would have been to remain in NZ playing in the NPC.
“Playing rugby’s beneficial, without a doubt, because we’re footy players,” he said. “But being able to train with the All Blacks and at the level that they do, the speed and the skillset, is a massive boost.
“I feel like I’m a much better footy player today than I was three weeks ago, that’s for sure.”
Foster will name his line-up to take on France on Thursday evening (early Friday morning in New Zealand).
Comments on RugbyPass
Are the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
2 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
2 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to comments