Sam Cane ‘stoked’ with All Blacks’ defensive success at World Cup

Defence wins championships. It’s an old adage that’s thrown around time and time again in sports including American Football, football and of course rugby union.

Over the coming days, a lot will be said about the 44 points that the All Blacks scored during their commanding semi-final win over Argentina on Friday night.

But the six scored against them was just as impressive. The All Blacks didn’t concede a try, and that deserves all the credit, plaudits and praise that fans can give.

New Zealand made 195 tackles against Argentina, which backs up their incredible defensive performance against a physical Irish outfit last weekend – completing 226 stops.

With defensive guru Scott McLeod guiding the team, the All Blacks have transformed themselves into a team that is now 80 minutes away from potentially winning the World Cup.

“I said last week that history shows the team who is one of the best defensively will end up winning the World Cup. There are a few guys in our team who are particularly passionate about it so it’s pretty strong,” captain Sam Cane said after the win over Argentina.

"A lot of credit has to go to [defence coach] Scott McLeod and [assistant coach] Joe Schmidt. We have a system now we really believe in, some skillsets within that, the individual tackles.

“There’s also the work the boys who are not playing do - learning the opposition shapes so we can train against them during the week as well. But we are pretty stoked not to concede any tries tonight. I am pretty proud of that.”

The All Blacks made a statement with their hard-fought 28-24 win over Ireland in the quarterfinals, but they knew that they’d need their A-game a week later against Los Pumas.

Argentina had been written off by many, but anything can happen in a semi-final. Wing Emiliano Boffelli scored the first points of the Test with an early penalty goal.

While the All Blacks looked stunned, if only for a moment, they soon took control with first-half tries to Will Jordan, Jordie Barrett and Shannon Frizell. They continued to dominate after the break as well.

“We’ve played Argentina in the past and we know they are a team that can frustrate, stay in the fight and often accumulate points in threes. We wanted to be patient and a lot of credit has to go to the forward pack,” Cane told reporters on Friday.

“We wanted to scrum well and drive well and we made the most of our opportunities. The scrum penalty just before half-time allowed us to get down their end and score, that was huge. I am really pleased with the effort and we have to go again now.”