'There's always a step up': Sam Cane on making his All Black return

Former All Blacks captain Sam Cane was a relieved and happy figure after making his return to the international arena in the 42-10 win at Eden Park.

The openside flanker came off the bench for a 30 minute cameo and was immediately in the thick of it on defence on the line.

It took just two minutes for Cane to receive a shiner and bruised eye, something he called a “reminder” to what Test rugby is.

“First half was a bit of a clinic,” Cane said, “Weather probably helped us a little bit.

“We wanted to play direct for a lot of our carry, clean, stuff was really good.

“When it is a bit slippery like that, cleans are good, it extends the ruck and the offside line gets getting pushed back a little bit, and we’re able to pin them in their half, something we weren’t able to do last week, and force a few errors through our defence.

“So and then, you know, we’re able to spin the ball and make the most of turnovers. So, yeah, really happy, particularly, we did make a few small tweaks to the week.

“You know, we talked about having a good, hard look at what we’ve been putting out during the week. And it’s just rewarding when you put in a lot of effort into something.

“You’re not always sure if it’s going to show in the weekend and performance, but tonight it did.”

On being back in the black jersey for the first time this year Cane admitted that he had some nerves but after a passionate Haka he was ready to get back out there.

Once on the field, Cane produced nine tackles on defence as well as a key turnover, forcing a knock-on from a Pumas ball carrier as they attacked the All Blacks line.

He said that the intensity of a Test is a “step up” from Super Rugby and it took a little while to adjust.

“I mean, there’s always a little bit of pre game jitters,” Cane said of his return.

“I was certainly ready after that pre-game Haka, rip straight in, and then remind yourself you’ve got to go to the simmer down on the bench and watch the game closely.

“I found in the past I’ve made a few jumps from a Super Rugby rugby playoff game, to playing Test rugby a couple weeks later, there’s always a step up, big reminder, just the speed and intensity, the collisons, how quick things move. Just have to react a lot quicker and those instincts take a little bit to come back.

“But just really grateful to to get back out there, like I said during the week, like, was a time like, that I considered that it wasn’t possible, but I suppose, like, that’s just my mind not allowing myself to go to that place.

“But I suppose it was, like, every chance, it wasn’t. So, yeah, I’ll really cherish this one tonight.”