Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain
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@Toddy Hi Toddy, I have seen Cullen play weekly since he was 13 and he is a ball runner as well. After that game vs the Blues when he was man of the match, you would have noticed the next week the Crusaders did use him a slightly different way as a runner. The beauty of Cullen is his brain first, then his athleticism, he understands game plans when others do not and can adjust his game accordingly. He is exceptionally rugby bright, one best players I have seen or worked with in this regard. This is why the Crusaders like him and players similar to him. His ball running is immense and he has a pace and can change direction at ease. Almost like a young Kieran Read. You will see this as he develops. What is best position is we are not sure, we were surprised last year they used him at lock as much as they did as his height and player type seems to more suit six. Early on he played seven a lot also, but we hear he is getting lined up as an 8 in the young Kieran Read mould where he could play tight or loose depending on the game plan. Saying all this, he is still 20, so I might favour a Tom Robinson yet if he continues to develop.
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@erps said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
Saying all this, he is still 20, so I might favour a Tom Robinson yet if he continues to develop.
great post,
just my flogging a dead horse moment, that young forwards often fade as it takes a few years for the body to accommodate the physicality of top level competition. It's just grinding, and without proper offseasons, can be really hard to get used to. Injuries and loss of form are real, and you have to be managed
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Totally agree, what surprised me at the World Cup was the two young England flankers and how good they were. Superb talents but how long can they keep that up as they age playing the amount they have to over there. I think we often forget about when were 20 -24 ourselves and the maturity/lack of maturity we had. Not many of us grow up to 25 plus do we but then we criticise a young player for a couple or errors. For a lot of them this is first couple years away from parents and teachers protecting them from the big wide world. Often they have never been criticised or dropped and just pandered to by all but are now not. Kaino took 4-5 years, Brooke was 29 before he was a regular and so on with others. This is why I think Jordie Barrett will eventually get there but it make take a couple of years of pruning the rose so to speak.
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just reflecting on Sam Cane. It's been a while since the AB captain wasn't a point of difference, the kind of guy most fans want on their teams. Most international fans, with some justification, would not see Cane as an upgrade on their current 7.
We all know and respect what Cane brings to the ABs, but he's a role player rather than a standout. It's a bit of a difference after the Tana-Richie-Read years (and that's a lot of years).
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@mariner4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
just reflecting on Sam Cane. It's been a while since the AB captain wasn't a point of difference, the kind of guy most fans want on their teams. Most international fans, with some justification, would not see Cane as an upgrade on their current 7.
You thought Read was a standout and point of difference when he was captain?
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@nzzp said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
@mariner4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
just reflecting on Sam Cane. It's been a while since the AB captain wasn't a point of difference, the kind of guy most fans want on their teams. Most international fans, with some justification, would not see Cane as an upgrade on their current 7.
You thought Read was a standout and point of difference when he was captain?
initially, yes. It's only a couple of years since he and Retallic were the added extras that made our pack go from good to great. I can't remember the game, i think it was Bledisloe, where Aus matched us up front, except for the extra bits those two provided.
Last 2 years? Not so much. He was lucky he was the skipper, and there was literally no one else
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@mariner4life I might have agreed with you a year and a half ago when Ardie was still finding his feet and developing his game, especially on the test scene. However, last year he came on in leaps and bounds and showed he could matchup physically to anyone in the game, both defensivley and in the trenches so to speak, hence why he was named player of the year. I think that WC round robin game against the Springboks was a true reflection of how far he has come, and I still don't think he's reached his peak yet.
The bench in my view isn't the best spot for Ardie anymore due to his experience and leadership in what will be a fairly green area for the All Black's. Having both Cane and Savea on the park at the same time is the only way I can see the All Black's getting the most out of both players. For instance if you match up Cane with two loose forwards that lack any speed or gamebreaking ability, then we start to look very ordinary. Ardie is X-factor, but he has proven with his ongoing development that he can do the dirty work aswell. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the next year or so and what Foster's game plan ends up being.
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@Canes4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
@mariner4life I might have agreed with you a year and a half ago when Ardie was still finding his feet and developing his game, especially on the test scene. However, last year he came on in leaps and bounds and showed he could matchup physically to anyone in the game, both defensivley and in the trenches so to speak, hence why he was named player of the year. I think that WC round robin game against the Springboks was a true reflection of how far he has come, and I still don't think he's reached his peak yet.
The bench in my view isn't the best spot for Ardie anymore due to his experience and leadership in what will be a fairly green area for the All Black's. Having both Cane and Savea on the park at the same time is the only way I can see the All Black's getting the most out of both players. For instance if you match up Cane with two loose forwards that lack any speed or gamebreaking ability, then we start to look very ordinary. Ardie is X-factor, but he has proven with his ongoing development that he can do the dirty work aswell. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the next year or so and what Foster's game plan ends up being
Defensively a lot weaker than Cane.
Not as robust against very physical teams.
Ask England. -
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@mariner4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
just reflecting on Sam Cane. It's been a while since the AB captain wasn't a point of difference, the kind of guy most fans want on their teams. Most international fans, with some justification, would not see Cane as an upgrade on their current 7.
That's because most of them are halfwits who think Pocock was god's gift to flankers. You'll never see Cane look up to see a Kaino in front of him and shovel the ball on in fear.
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@Frank Cane is a lot weaker than Ardie in most other facets. Your point? All players have their strengths and weaknesses. Not like Cane dominanted against England either, in fact he didn’t really stand out during the World Cup at all.
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@Canes4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
@Frank Cane is a lot weaker than Ardie in most other facets. Your point? All players have their strengths and weaknesses. Not like Cane dominanted against England either, in fact he didn’t really stand out during the World Cup at all.
England didn't score any tries when Cane was on the field ...
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@Canes4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
Not like Cane dominanted against England either, in fact he didn’t really stand out during the World Cup at all.
He only did the second highest amount of tackles in the whole team at 95% success rate. What were you watching?
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@antipodean said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
@Canes4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
Not like Cane dominanted against England either, in fact he didn’t really stand out during the World Cup at all.
He only did the second highest amount of tackles in the whole team at 95% success rate. What were you watching?
He's no flash Harry, but he does a huge amount of the grunt work
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@antipodean said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
@Canes4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
Not like Cane dominanted against England either, in fact he didn’t really stand out during the World Cup at all.
He only did the second highest amount of tackles in the whole team at 95% success rate. What were you watching?
when you have your yellow goggles on...
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@mariner4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
@antipodean said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
@Canes4life said in Sam Cane - All Blacks Captain:
Not like Cane dominanted against England either, in fact he didn’t really stand out during the World Cup at all.
He only did the second highest amount of tackles in the whole team at 95% success rate. What were you watching?
when you have your yellow goggles on...
He should give the goggles to Ardie....
