Sam Cane's return crucial to Chiefs' fortunes for pivotal Crusaders battle
Sam Cane is back for the Chiefs – and it couldn’t have come at a more crucial time.
Head coach Warren Gatland will be delighted to have Cane’s services once again, for the calming aspect if nothing else, as the Hamilton-based franchise looks to click into the gear after struggling to fire a shot across the first two weeks of competition.
Well-documented injuries have continued to ravage a Chiefs forward pack which is already under growing pressure with issues at lineout time, some uncanny handling errors and the inability to execute on many scoring opportunities that amount to more than a few points foregone.
By and large, it has all been quite average from the Chiefs so far in Super Rugby Aotearoa and it’s something they themselves admit to being angry about.
This situation isn’t new for Cane. In fact, it has happened many times throughout the course of his near-decade-long career at the Chiefs.
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It’s not only the experience Cane has, far outweighing any other in the Chiefs forward pack and up there with the longest-serving players in Super Rugby, it’s also the 28-year old’s proven track record of being the man to ignite positive fortune thanks to pure physicality and an ability to have a consistent impact at the breakdown.
It happened just last year, when Cane immediately helped pick up the forward pack around him in a series of gruelling performances that the Chiefs came out the winning side of, including against the Crusaders in that classic comeback to beat the eventual Super Rugby champions 40-27 in Suva.
Winning in these areas will be key if the Chiefs are to come out on the winning side in Christchurch against a Crusaders side who are always strong over the ball and pack a lot of variation with the drive and lineouts.
For head coach Gatland, the influence that the 116-capped Chiefs loosie will bring is all about the fact that he has been there and done that, something few of the others in the loosie trio can say.
“It’s just about having that voice, Sam brings the leadership and experience which is huge for us right now with some of the experience that has been taken out due to injuries,” Gatland said.
“He will be demanding clarity and that we are accurate. That’s the challenge for us and it’s a big part of the Crusaders game so the communication that Sam brings with him is really important in that aspect.”
All eyes were on Cane earlier this week during a full-contact training session prior to the final team naming. It was imperative for Chiefs medics that the 28-year old got through the hit-out unscathed before making the final decision because had there been any niggles, Cane would’ve missed selection for the third week in a row.
Being the All Black captain and not wanting to take any extreme risks was certainly a factor in the cautious approach, but the nature of Cane’s back injury was such that continual flare-ups were occurring, mainly tightness in the back after taking contact.
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After finally getting the all-clear, Cane’s imperativeness to the greater good at the Chiefs should likely be on full show this Saturday. Look for the calming influence Cane will have at set-piece, something that will be crucial for young lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi and hooker Bradley Slater as the Chiefs attempt to turn their woes at lineout time around.
Particularly in this area the delivery to the lineout hasn’t been so bad, more so the timing of the lifters. As a man who has been involved in hundreds, perhaps even thousands of lineouts in his time, Cane will know the right triggers to pull to get his forwards clicking plus he also has a good knowledge of how the Crusaders will combat the throws.
Experience, as nearly every coach will say, cannot be taught but its rewards can be immediately noticeable.
Cane’s return also completes the loose forward trio, for the most part. It would’ve been easy to push the 28-year old out to start in the No.8 jersey, and perhaps this may have happened had Luke Jacobson also been available or had Warren Gatland picked out and out openside Mitch Karpik.
Ironically, for all the injury woes, the Chiefs have now found themselves with a selection juggling act at flanker but Cane, like his head coach, knows that all it will take is a good performance to get the Chiefs somewhere close to being back in the saddle.
For the Chiefs and their fortunes moving forward, hopefully a good performance amounts to a win on Sunday, but at the very least it should be one where the execution is better.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments