All Blacks captain Sam Cane received praise from head coach Ian Foster after his team’s strong win against Argentina on Saturday.
Cane has been under pressure from the media for most of the year but will feel relieved after the All Blacks ran away with a 53-3 win against Argentina in Hamilton.
Proud of Cane
Foster was quick to praise Cane, considering the pressure the veteran has been under, during what has been a tricky Test season for the All Blacks.
“I was just proud of the way the guys hung in there, have not got tight under the pressure and played with a bit of ambition,” Foster said after the game. “I was particularly proud of [Cane] for his week. He has been under the pump from various quarters, but I thought he might have answered a few questions tonight.”
The skipper said the All Blacks were focused on getting a win at home for the fans, who come out and spend their money to watch the team.
“We’d be pretty quick to put our hand up and say we haven’t been proud of the performances we’ve put out at home,” said Cane. “We appreciate the support we receive … fans spending their hard-earned cash to come and support you. It didn’t matter where it was in the country, we were pretty determined to put one on at home.
“We’ve got only one more home game the rest of the year, so it felt like a good reward internally for a team that’s been working extremely hard behind the scenes.”
All Blacks midfielder Rieko Ioane put together a blockbuster performance in the Hamilton Test, scoring one try and setting up another, and the speedster was happy with New Zealand’s bounce back from last weekend.
“Definitely proud of the boys, it’s been the theme of our year, we’ve been one down and the response the next week,” Ioane told Sky Sport NZ.
“We’re happy with where it is, but need to gain momentum into the next round.
“We probably did get caught up after that win in South Africa, we started slow against Argentina who were kicking like that last week.
“Our discipline let us down but we corrected it tonight. Very happy with that result.”
“Even though the weather was pretty poor, our backline was keen to play. It’s the type of rugby that we as a team love,” he added.
Joe Schmidt’s influence
Ioane also commended the impact of assistant coach Joe Schmidt, who joined the coaching staff after the South Africa tour.
“He’s got a different rugby brain to what we are used to here. He’s a man that has a wealth of knowledge all over,” he said.
“His experience, just his little details, in and around the team, it’s just been awesome.
“He’s had a huge impact already.”
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