Having quickly returned to the game after breaking his neck in South Africa the last time the All Blacks played the Springboks there, captain Sam Cane knows a thing or two about overcoming what seem to be insurmountable challenges.
Cane’s brush with serious adversity after the All Blacks’ pulsating 32-30 win in Pretoria in 2018 and his recovery to be fit for the World Cup, may go some way to explaining how he shrugged off the personal criticism he has faced, largely from those abroad.
It also explains his optimism ahead of Sunday morning’s Test against the Boks in Mbombela Stadium.
“I’ve been doing all right,” he replied when asked after training at the team’s resort near the Kruger National Park how he was bearing up following the recent 2-1 series defeat to Ireland.
That defeat, and the nature of the back-to-back Test losses in Dunedin and Wellington last month has resulted in the departures of two assistant coaches, the addition of a new one, and a whole lot of pressure on Cane and head coach Ian Foster.
But, as usual, Cane addressed the questions on the issues surrounding him and his team with honesty, and, in the case of his memories of his last test in South Africa, with wry good humour.
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"I think the best thing I’ve found is not to engage or read any articles or stuff online, just to focus on your close group of friends and teammates, etc," he said.
"As long as they’ve got your back and believe in you, and you believe in yourself, you’re in a pretty good spot. I think it’s harder sometimes on loved ones – friends and family. But myself, I’ve been all good."
The All Blacks, however, who without injured lock Brodie Retallick, have not been.
Their pack’s struggles against Ireland (after the successive defeats in Dublin and Paris last year) have prompted the departure of John Plumtree and addition of Jason Ryan from the Crusaders. Brad Mooar has departed as attack coach, with Foster taking over that role, too.
Against them loom the world champion Springboks in back-to-back Tests on the Highveld, their opponents high on confidence and deep in terms of playing stocks after their series victory over Wales.
"It may seem like there’s a lot to fix from the outside potentially, but in camp we’ve got a couple of really clear focuses and often when you get, what we call the ‘big rocks’ of the forward pack right, the other smaller things which may seem like big issues sort themselves out," Cane said.
"The hardest thing after the last game was actually going home for a week. As much as we needed a break from it all it was so good to get back in Wellington for that two-day camp and start putting some work into fix things.
"It’s important we don’t focus on all the things that are going wrong because the truth is there’s not heaps of things going wrong. Among the top teams there are small margins in games. For example, in the last game we lost by 10 but we let in two rolling maul tries. As an All Black forward pack that’s something we don’t see as acceptable. If we fix that, that’s one big rock we’ve sorted out."
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In truth, this area of the game will be something resembling a house-sized boulder for the All Blacks, who will face a giant and experienced pack which has recalled veteran hooker Malcolm Marx, and which has a six-two forwards split on the reserves bench.
However, Cane said Ryan, who built a significant reputation with the Crusaders in terms of his lineout maul defence, had already made his presence felt.
"I feel like we’ve made some good strides already over the last couple of days."
The All Blacks have won eight of their last nine Tests against the Boks - another small reason for optimism for a squad potentially struggling a little for confidence.
And while, due to Covid, they haven’t played in the Republic for four years, they know what they’re going to get this weekend.
"These Test matches over here are some of the toughest Tests I’ve been involved in," Cane said.
"I’ve loved playing South Africa over here. I think any time a Test is super tough – that’s the most enjoyable when you walk off the field. You’ve given everything and I know it will be like that on Saturday.
"Obviously against Wales they made a few changes between test matches. They’ve got an incredible amount of depth in their squad.
We know what we’re going to get… a confrontational and physical battle… but looking at the footage [of the Wales series]… some of the skill and speed of the outside backs is right up there. They’re the full package."
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