All Black Sam Cane’s candid assessment of Wallaby Fraser McReight

99-Test flanker Sam Cane insists the All Blacks will “have our hands full” on Saturday evening if Fraser McReight takes the field for the Wallabies. McReight was sensational last weekend in Sydney and is almost certain to suit up again at Wellington’s Sky Stadium.

Following a stint on the sidelines with a thumb injury, McReight donned Wallaby gold for the first time since the 40-29 win over Georgia in July when Australia took on New Zealand for the first of two Bledisloe Cup Tests a few days ago.

McReight was superb on a sunny afternoon at Sydney Olympic Park, with the openside flanker leading the charge against the heavily favoured New Zealanders. The visitors led 21-nil after 15 minutes but McReight helped the Aussies hit back with a well-worked set-piece move.

Rob Valetini combined with Nic White off a lineout, who in turn sent McReight through a gap. That try in the 17^th minute was one highlight from an individual performance that had fans wanting more and more.

The Queenslander ended up finishing with 60 running metres from 13 carries, 18 tackles completed, only one tackle missed and a couple of dominant stops as well. McReight lined up opposite Cane that day, and the two will likely go head-to-head again this weekend.

“Yeah, he’s been awesome. For a few years, he was an awesome Super Rugby player and probably the last couple of years he’s really established himself at Test level,” Cane told reporters in Upper Hutt on Tuesday.

“He’s got a massive engine, gets around the field really well and competes – obviously awesome at the breakdown, his support play is wicked is well.

“Yeah, he had a great game (last weekend). We’ll have our hands full trying to minimise his impact on the game again.”

McReight’s try midway through the first half was the catalyst for an incredible comeback from the Wallabies, who ended up rallying from their 21-point deficit to almost win the Test. It was a three-point game with just over 60 seconds left to run on the clock.

While the All Blacks held on courtesy of a late scrum, it wasn’t a flawless performance from Scott Robertson’s men. Instead, while they didn’t win, the Wallabies finished with a confidence-building second half.

But, Australia have still tumbled down World Rugby’s rankings to an equal-worst 10^th place despite their impressive efforts on home soil. Argentina moved up a spot after shocking world champions South Africa 29-28 in the same round of The Rugby Championship.

“I think we’ve seen that time and time again in terms of the rankings, there’s actually not a heck of a lot between the top teams,” Cane said.

“I think world rugby is in a pretty good place when you think about the quality (in) a lot of those top teams. It’s certainly not something we read into, the world rankings.”