All Black Jordie Barrett on captain Sam Cane’s ‘unbelievable’ quarter-final

When the All Blacks lost to Ireland for the first time ever in New Zealand last year, captain Sam Cane came under immense pressure and scrutiny. Questions continued to be asked of the skipper during the Autumn Nations Series as Dalton Papali’i stepped up in Cane’s absence.

But Cane will feel “pretty good about himself right now” after leading by example in an all-time classic Rugby World Cup quarter-final against the Irish, about 15 months on from the heartbreak of yesteryear.

Cane, 31, led the way with an incredible 21 tackles. No player on either team got more than 18 with New Zealand lock Scott Barrett a nearby second. It was a proper captain's knock.

With more than 78,000 fans chanting, booing and making all kinds of noise, Cane was a constant headache for the green machine as they looked to mount attacking phase play. The backrower made his presence known with some big hits that could basically be felt from the stands at Stade de France.

“Unbelievable. Just shows up in those big moments and the whole lot of them, one to eight, outstanding,” teammate Jordie Barrett said when asked about Sam Cane’s performance.

“Ardie (had) some massive moments, our locks (had) some massive moments and our boys off the bench (were) unbelievable.

“Our front three laid the platform with our scrum and rugby hasn’t changed and it’s history you need one to eight to go to work.”

The criticism of captain Cane was impossible to avoid at times last year. As the All Blacks continued to struggle for form with the World Cup on the horizon, fans called for change.

But as far as sporting cliches go, there is no better than the idea that ‘form is temporary and class is permanent.’ There is something special about Sam Cane in the legendary No. 7 black jersey.

“I bet you he’s feeling pretty good about himself right now and so he should be,” Barrett added. “He’s well respected in our group.

“We know in big Test matches and big World Cups it’s your defence that wins you those games and we showed tonight he just popped up in those big moments – so physical, so brave and so tough.

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves that’s a quarter-final. We’ve got Argentina next week and we’re going to have to prepare as best we can.”

The All Blacks defended their hearts out as they held on for a 28-24 win at the Parisian venue on Saturday evening. New Zealand survived more than 35 waves of Ireland attack in the dying stages to book a date with Argentina in the semi-finals.

Coach Ian Foster wouldn’t say that it was the biggest Test of his head coaching career with the All Blacks, but the New Zealander did say that “this one was up there.”

"It is a special day. The world has been talking about these two quarter-finals for 12 months now, even longer. France v South Africa is likely to be the same. They are massive games, two very proud teams, desperate to win it,” Foster said.

"Sometimes the sweetest victories are when your opponents play really well and test you to the limit. We didn’t want to play Ireland with two yellow cards. We played a lot of that game with 14 men but I couldn’t be more proud of the players. I thought we looked in control of it."