Dubai: New Zealand rugby loose forward Sam Cane said there is no fear of complacency in camp after the All Blacks’ record year in the 15-a-side game.
The Kiwis recently became the first national team to go a calendar year unbeaten in the professional era after 14 consecutive victories, culminating in a 24-22 victory over Ireland last week.
But 21-year-old Cane, who has scored 35 points in 14 appearances for New Zealand, said there is no intention of the players getting ahead of themselves.
“There is no fear of complacency at all,” said Cane on the sidelines of the AIG All Blacks bus at the Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens, where he was signing autographs along with fellow players centre Ryan Crotty and lock Luke Romano.
“If you get complacent that’s when you start to slip up in games and a couple of times we came close to that this season. They are always tough games against tough nations but now it’s just about building on this and not being satisfied with where you are at.”
In reference to the record, Cane, who plays his provincial rugby for the Bay of Plenty and Super Rugby with The Chiefs, added: “It’s pretty special in that it hasn’t been done before in the professional era. It’s the result of a lot of hard work and mental side of getting up for 14 big Test matches throughout the year. It’s something we are very proud of and it took a very special group of players and coaches to achieve that.”
Former All Blacks full-back Carlos Spencer said the record was less as a result of the greatness of New Zealand and more to do with the slipping standards of other test nations, but Cane disagreed.
“We had some very tough games [in the Rugby Championship] against South Africa and Australia throughout the year and were tested against Argentina. Then we came on [Autumn Internationals] tour and beat England, France and Ireland by no more than seven points, so if that’s not competition I’m not sure what is.”
Of the manner in which they beat Ireland in their final game of the year last week, coming back to win 24-22 after trailing 22-7 at half-time, Cane added: “It certainly didn’t go to script. It was a real challenge to come back from so far behind. The feeling in the changing room was that we were proud of the way we came back but not proud about the performance.
“It’s not how we like to win games. But you’ve got to take your hat off to the boys with the way they played and with the belief to recover from a deficit like that.”
Looking to the future, Cane said: “When you are no.1 in the world, without meaning to sound cocky, you have to have a higher goal and that’s what we have.
“The target now is to keep building, keep winning and keep on improving. The first couple of years under coach Steve Hansen we’ve got better and understood the gameplay better and improved our skills and that’s just about keeping on doing that.”
