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Sam Cane says the pressure is still on his All Blacks team
By AAP
The All Blacks are feeling pressure from all sides to rebound after their shock home defeat to Argentina but are not far away from producing a winning performance, according to embattled captain Sam Cane.
The All Blacks lost at home to the Pumas for the first time in Christchurch on Saturday and another defeat to the South Americans in Hamilton this weekend would imperil their RugbyChampionship title defence.
"There's that pressure, there's the external pressure and there's the internal pressure that we put on ourselves," Cane told reporters at training on Tuesday.
"We're not happy with how we fronted up last week so, (there's) heaps of pressure."
While coach Ian Foster and the All Blacks staff have shouldered most of the blame for the team's struggles, flanker Cane has also been a lightning rod for criticism from disgruntled fans.
Former Blues coach-turned-TV pundit John Kirwan said the leadership group were failing the team and called for openside Cane to be dropped and replaced by Dalton Papalii in the back row.
Cane agreed the senior players needed to step up but said the form woes could be reversed with basic improvements in discipline and execution.
"I don't think it was a horrible performance by any means," he said of the 25-18 loss in Christchurch, the All Blacks' sixth defeat in eight tests.
"I don't think we're way off. If we could be a little bit more disciplined in that first half and put them under a lot more pressure, then potentially the game changes from there.
"But we didn't do that and they are a very good side. I think that can be underestimated in this whole thing."
The All Blacks may have reinforcements in the form of former world players of the year, lock Brodie Retallick and five-eighth Beauden Barrett, with both back at training after injuries.
Barrett said he was in good shape a week after sustaining a neck injury that sidelined him for Christchurch.
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Latest Comments
There's no easy fix here. From a geography standpoint, South Africa is kind of on an island alone in the rugby world, much like Argentina.
They don't have enough talent to have a top tier domestic league of their own, and it won't support the union financially. Best case you could hope for would be the five extant franchises (including Cheetahs) and perhaps a team from Namimbia. Gives you a 6 team league, that's not enough. Plus again, it's just not financially sustainable either.
At the same time, it's not really great for them to be involved in either the European or the Pacific rugby set up. That said, as bad as the travel is, at least Europe makes more sense from a time zone perspective. I still think it's the least bad option. Also has done wonders for the URC.
I don't think though, that it makes very much sense to have 4 teams from the URC excluded from European qualification. Not to mention, being able to compete in the Champions Cup was a big draw for the South African clubs anyway.
So yeah, I don't really see a change that makes more sense than the less than ideal situation that already exists.
Go to commentsMoriaty refused to play for wales also he’s injured, France’s is being coy about wales, North in the dark but Sam David and jerad are you joking their not good enough
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