Sam Cane recalls moment he knew his tour was over

By Christopher Reive

When the All Blacks came off the park after beating Japan in Tokyo, captain Sam Cane had a feeling his tour was over.

The 30-year-old was involved in a head clash with teammate David Havili as the pair attempted to clean out a breakdown with 10 minutes to go, and knew immediately things weren’t quite right.

Feeling the blood in his mouth but not feeling a whole lot of pain, Cane remained on the pitch for the rest of the match, helping the side overcome a red card to Brodie Retallick and secure a 38-31 win.

“I got up a bit slow and I knew, without having done my cheekbone before, that I had probably done my cheekbone. I could feel it when I put my hand to my head, and I could feel the blood in my mouth,” Cane recalled.

“Because it wasn’t too sore and there was only 10 minutes to go, I wasn’t too concerned. But I knew in that moment that it wasn’t too good.

“The game was in the balance at that point. It didn’t restrict my ability to play and perform, so I was happy to carry on.”

Cane had the left side of his face checked by the team doctor immediately after the match and while he thought his tour was over, the fact he couldn’t feel much pain gave him some hope that perhaps the issue wasn’t as bad as he believed.

However, a visit to a local hospital for a CT scan revealed two fractures; one below his left eye, and another off to the left of it. His tour was over, and he will have to see a specialist upon his return to New Zealand to determine whether surgery will be required to repair the breaks.

“To see it on the scan, I was really looking forward to these next few games and looking forward to hopefully finishing the year really strong as a team, as a captain and as an individual,” he said.

For Cane, it’s the latest of several injury setbacks in his career including well-documented neck and pectoral injuries, and concussion issues.

He said the recovery process never gets any easier.

“It’s always really shit when it happens. It’s just a bit of a mental roller-coaster I suppose; the highs and the lows. The injuries are certainly some of the lows, and knowing the work that goes into getting on the field, you just want to be out there with your teammates doing what you can to perform well and play well in the black jersey.”

Cane won’t be alone on his return to New Zealand, with Dane Coles suffering a calf injury in the warm-up for the test in Japan and being forced out of the tour as well.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster revealed that while Coles’ injury wasn’t a major issue, it would likely keep him sidelined for three weeks and Coles knew what decision had to be made.

“We had a good heart-to-heart last night,” Foster said.

“In true Colesy style, he was the one who said ‘look, Foz, I’ve got to go home. I can’t hang around here moping for three weeks.’ It was a joint decision, but a reasonably obvious one.”