'They're under pressure': Unbeaten All Blacks captain responds to Sam Cane comments
All Blacks great Buck Shelford has underlined the contrast between the All Blacks and their fans in the wake of Sam Cane’s comments about ‘brutal’ supporters.
Cane has faced scrutiny for his comments that some fans criticising the team don’t know a lot about rugby.
Cane and his side have come under pressure after back-to-back losses following the shock 25-15 defeat to Argentina on Saturday.
Shelford, who led the All Blacks 31 times without losing, told the Mike Hosking Breakfast we can be cruel to our top sporting sides.
“I think they’re under pressure having lost two games in a row. I’ve heard a lot of comments from people saying they are useless and all this sort of stuff but it’s a lot harder than people think. It takes a long time to make it into the All Blacks and you’re the best of the best,” Shelford said.
“We’re so used to winning that when we do lose we get our heckles up and we get a bit annoyed with the boys. They will lose at times.
“I think he [Cane] is just being honest. And we can be quite cruel to our international stars, not just in rugby, but any of our sports stars,” he told Mike Hosking.
Shelford added that the rise of social media has increased the criticism and questions whether some of it is genuine.
“Now we’re living in this technology age, people are just punching out stuff all the time and sometimes do they really mean it? They don’t really think about it they just put it in then all of a sudden it’s gone… They’ve got to realise it takes a long time to get into the top, a lot of pain.
“They get brutally hammered every week especially when test matches come along. We don’t have to do that. We just have to sit in the stands, eat pies and chips and watch what they do. We complain if they lose and if they win we go and get absolutely pissed.”
Cane was quick to defend his team and head coach Ian Foster, and in an interview with Sky Sprot’s The Breakdown, describing the brutal nature of some of the All Blacks’ passionate supporters.
“We’ve got some amazing fans but we’ve also got some pretty brutal ones,” he said. “With that you’ve just got to remind yourself ‘hey, they may like to think they know a lot about the game of rugby, in reality they don’t really’. They may know the game from what they see in the 80 minutes, but they don’t see the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.”
Kiwi fans like to think they've got a good grasp on what's going wrong with the #AllBlacks – but maybe that's not quite the case.https://t.co/1SeeM01LfL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 17, 2020
The comments led to boundless backlash on social media from fans who indeed, believe they’re well-versed in the 15-man code.
One said on Twitter it’s “not a very wise thing to say coming from the captain. Most AB supporters know he ain’t captain material anyway”.
“A very arrogant view. I’ve barely missed an All Blacks Test on TV since 1987 and attend probably 10 live games a year. Kiwis know rugby,” another added.
A third said “I agree, not a wise comment as we the fans do understand rugby and so many of the fans actually play rugby too”.
The public expressed their concerns about the team on the Herald as well. Commenting on a story where Cane went on the defensive, one reader exclaimed “we can read body language though, and the majority of players are telling me both Cane and Foster hold little respect. When they both have to talk each other up we know there’s something not right in camp”.
“Cane rhymes with Taine [Randall]… and he lost 5 in a row…” another wrote.
One took aim at the team as a whole, saying “strategy issues identified by Cane (going wider), but selection is an issue too..1st 5 at fullback, fullback on wing, wing at centre, 6/7 at 8. Coach has to take responsibility for team selection”.
There were also those in Cane’s corner willingly caressing his shoulders. “Sam Cane is mostly right here. Many fans are just keyboard warriors with no professional experience in rugby or intimate knowledge of rugby rules. Elite players like Sam Cane don’t need the fans, fans need the elite players though,” one Twitter user said.
Saturday’s defeat in Western Sydney was riddled with unwanted feats being achieved. It was the first loss in 30 matches to the Pumas, the result handed the All Blacks their first back-to back defeats since 2011 (those two nine years ago were in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup), and gave Foster the worst winning rate of 40 per cent for a head coach through his first five games.
More importantly, it occurred two weeks after an historic 38-point victory over the Wallabies that locked away the Bledisloe Cup, and injected momentous positivity in the early work from Foster and those around him.
The All Blacks’ fourth and final game of the Tri Nations comes on November 28 against Argentina in Newcastle. If results go their way they can still claim the silverware, but it is likely the team will be more focused on a reactionary performance radiating with pride.
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Comments on RugbyPass
late 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
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments