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16th October 2023
12:57pm BST

“If New Zealand are to find their best back-row blend before next year’s World Cup, the hard call has to be made, with Cane relegated to the bench or jettisoned completely." said Barnes.
Indeed, since taking over as captain in 2020, Cane's team have lost 11 games with most of the top nations getting the unfamiliar taste of what it is to beat the All Blacks.
But Cane has always taken things in his stride.
"That's just good rugby banter," he said last year, "It's all part of the game. I don't mind it. No, it's good stuff."
And after inspiring his team to one of their most famous wins last Saturday, with a table-topping 22 tackles, to expect a bite back at some of those critics wouldn't have been unreasonable, but Cane again wasn't interested.
“No motivation from that,” Cane said in reference to the O'Mahony sledge.
"We know they have got a few players who love to get a bit, try to get under your skin, I suppose, with tactics like that.
Indeed, Cane was all-class in that post-match presser, taking the chance to shower praise on his opposite number Johnny Sexton. "He has been outstanding for Ireland for a very long time, as long as I've been playing Ireland, he's been there" said Cane. "He directs that team, steers them around. The fact that he's been able to play at the top level for so long is an absolute testament to him and his character. So Congratulations Johnny on an outstanding career." Related articles:“We went into the game knowing that they were going to be like that, but we just consciously focused on just sticking to our jobs and just executing our stuff. And, yeah, we didn't buy into it. I suppose.”
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