"Our fans are morons" - Sam Cane

[Thomas]

Strong words from the captain.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/tri-na ... XJ5O27L2E/

Sam Cane has spoken out about some of the All Blacks' "brutal" fans following the side's second straight defeat and first loss to Argentina over the weekend.

Speaking on Sky Sport's The Breakdown, Cane talked about various topics including criticism over coach Ian Foster, where the All Blacks went wrong and the difficulties of the side's schedule in 2020.

Cane also touched on the backlash from some fans, who he says might not know as much about rugby as they think.

"We've got some amazing fans but we've also got some pretty brutal ones," he said. "With that you've just got to remind yourself 'hey, they may like to think they know a lot about the game of rugby, in reality they don't really'. They may know the game from what they see in the 80 minutes, but they don't see the stuff that goes on behind the scenes."

Blah blah blah...

Spoiler: show

The 28-year-old captain also backed Foster, who has come under-fire after the All Blacks' two losses.

Under Foster, the All Blacks have won two of their first five games with defeats to the Wallabies in Brisbane followed by Saturday's 25-15 loss to Argentina in Parramatta.

"I've personally been very impressed with Foz," Cane said.

"He's given us really clear focusses about what we need to get better at, it doesn't feel as if we are bogged down and don't have the answers. A week's a long time in sport, it was only two weeks ago everyone was singing praises.

He also said he has the backing of the side as skipper.

"To me, if I'm having my leadership questioned, the opinions which matter to me are my team mates' and the coaches, who I work with every single day. I've got a lot of confidence from them that we're on the right track," he added.

[Zakar]

Fuk u san kane

[Farva]

He's not wrong

[jdogscoop]

Over on NPR "Ymx" had a thought-provoking response to this piece.

So
- they had a clinical edge before the game
- critical fans really don’t know anything
- they were also exhausted, 5 games 6 weeks.
- being away from home is exhausting
- they’re not excuses but they’re true

Clinical edge before the game but then after result tired and home sick. Not listening to any criticism, those people know nothing.

I’m not exactly inspired by this. Especially the “non” excuses. And how’s the team going to cope with a World Cup with so many games together and away from home.

I won’t even go in to the angle that the games are likely more condensed so they could get home for Christmas holidays.

[jdogscoop]

I don't need to know what happens behind the scenes.

I know for a fact the All Blacks have an historic winning ratio of close to 80%. Under Foster, it's 40%.

That is obviously well below expectations. Not surprisingly given that statistic, for 3/5 games this season they have played like shit.

Forgive me for being a little critical.

[Sensible Stephen]

lol.

Pretty much sums up that this dude is not captaincy material.

We will win the Bledisloe next year.

[Jay Cee Gee]

Speaking as an amazing fan who definitely does know a lot about the game of Rugby and someone who Sam Cane would probably invite round to a bbq and be best mates with and ask advice on selection matters, I don't have a problem with his comments.

[LandOTurk]

I don't need to know what happens behind the scenes.

I know for a fact the All Blacks have an historic winning ratio of close to 80%. Under Foster, it's 40%.

That is obviously well below expectations. Not surprisingly given that statistic, for 3/5 games this season they have played like shit.

Forgive me for being a little critical.

So if they had won just one more game, you would have been satisfied with the team as they would surpass the historic winning ratio.

[Jay Cee Gee]

I don't need to know what happens behind the scenes.

I know for a fact the All Blacks have an historic winning ratio of close to 80%. Under Foster, it's 40%.

That is obviously well below expectations. Not surprisingly given that statistic, for 3/5 games this season they have played like shit.

Forgive me for being a little critical.

So if they had won just one more game, you would have been satisfied with the team as they would surpass the historic winning ratio.

You may like to think you know a lot about the game of Maths, but in reality you don't really.

[grievous]

First AB captain to be booed at a game by own fans? They wont stand for this

[kiwigreg369]

Excuses is an Australian game - let them play it.

----

There's a lot to like about Cane - but to be honest:
- be honest
- admit that we were beaten by a better team on the day
- acknowledge how good the opposition were
- ensure behind closed doors that's individuals and the collective are responsible for what happened and accountability for improving

NZ fans do have unrealistic expectations. NZ is not as good as it has been / doesn't have the volume of quality players that we have had in the past. I think that's ok to recognise.

Critical for me is than when you play a team that hasn't played in a year you should execute better than they do.

[Thomas]

Excuses is an Australian game - let them play it.

[CrazyIslander]

I've always said Cane was a good judge of character.

[kiwigreg369]

Excuses is an Australian game - let them play it.

She's nice Thomas ... all i've got is this, but i do have a lot of them...

[Chilli]

He is not far from wrong

[obelixtim]

Even morons can recognise a shit sandwich when they see one. Sam is opening himself right up here if no improvement is seen by the morons.

Actually its Fozzie, not Cane the fans are spewing about.

[Sensible Stephen]

Even morons can recognise a shit sandwich when they see one. Sam is opening himself right up here if no improvement is seen by the morons.

Actually its Fozzie, not Cane the fans are spewing about.

Someone said NZ is playing the same as 2015. Seems like it. It was time for a change, but they decided to keep it the same. Hopefully they take Foster through to 2023.

[Jerome Manning]

but they don't see the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

That's always a bad line. No one cares about how much effort you are putting in if you're not getting results. This is professional sport - not kindergarten.

[jdogscoop]

Fabulous post from Obelixtim over on the lifeboat.

Cane needs to pull his head in. Of course many fans don't know what is going on behind the scenes - because they aren't there. But what fans do know, is what is displayed on the field, and that is probably a reflection of what IS going on behind the scenes.

And dissing fans who probably know a hell of a lot about rugby isn't going to make the ABs perform better.

I would suggest if players are being affected by what is read on social media, perhaps they need to focus on getting their heads right when it comes down to playing, and stay off the internet chat rooms.

You don't have to be a particularly knowledgeable fan to recognise a shit sandwich when you see it. And actually, Fozzie is the target, more than Sam, because knowledgeable fans can see him working his guts out on the field. But as far a leadership is concerned, either the players are not responding to his leadership, or he's not giving the right directions. Read was criticized as well for his average leadership qualities.

Fozzie comes with a baggage train of failure as a head coach, so its not surprising to fans to see more of the same. It was predicted, and so far he's done nothing to change that perception.

AB fans are used to success and high standards, and will be pretty harsh on failure. Its always been that way so Cane and Fozzie should not act so surprised.

The remedy is in their hands.

[jdogscoop]

I don't need to know what happens behind the scenes.

I know for a fact the All Blacks have an historic winning ratio of close to 80%. Under Foster, it's 40%.

That is obviously well below expectations. Not surprisingly given that statistic, for 3/5 games this season they have played like shit.

Forgive me for being a little critical.

So if they had won just one more game, you would have been satisfied with the team as they would surpass the historic winning ratio.

They would have had to have won two more, which is an almighty if.

[kiwigreg369]

Fabulous post from Obelixtim over on the lifeboat.

Cane needs to pull his head in. Of course many fans don't know what is going on behind the scenes - because they aren't there. But what fans do know, is what is displayed on the field, and that is probably a reflection of what IS going on behind the scenes.

And dissing fans who probably know a hell of a lot about rugby isn't going to make the ABs perform better.

I would suggest if players are being affected by what is read on social media, perhaps they need to focus on getting their heads right when it comes down to playing, and stay off the internet chat rooms.

You don't have to be a particularly knowledgeable fan to recognise a shit sandwich when you see it. And actually, Fozzie is the target, more than Sam, because knowledgeable fans can see him working his guts out on the field. But as far a leadership is concerned, either the players are not responding to his leadership, or he's not giving the right directions. Read was criticized as well for his average leadership qualities.

Fozzie comes with a baggage train of failure as a head coach, so its not surprising to fans to see more of the same. It was predicted, and so far he's done nothing to change that perception.

AB fans are used to success and high standards, and will be pretty harsh on failure. Its always been that way so Cane and Fozzie should not act so surprised.

The remedy is in their hands.

+1

[obelixtim]

Actually I should add, that if the team plays well, and still loses, then fans might not like it, but they will accept it.

Hooking in to the fans after playing like shit will not go down well.

Just fix it.

[Zakar]

I love that one of his excuses is 'being away from home', when the pumas have been away for twice as long. What a puss puss.

[GotheCanes]

Actually I should add, that if the team plays well, and still loses, then fans might not like it, but they will accept it.

Hooking in to the fans after playing like shit will not go down well.

Just fix it.

That's exactly it. I'll take a lose when they're in the fight but it seems that they haven't learnt anything since the Pommy game.

[Jerome Manning]

We just don't look hungry. Like winning 2 world cups back to back has satisfied all itches.

[Average Joe]

[booji boy]

Actually I should add, that if the team plays well, and still loses, then fans might not like it, but they will accept it.

Hooking in to the fans after playing like shit will not go down well.

Just fix it.

That's exactly it. I'll take a lose when they're in the fight but it seems that they haven't learnt anything since the Pommy game.

Agreed. I don't want to take anything away from the Pumas who played magnificently and deserved their win but we were a shower of shit. If we'd played better and still lost to the Pumas I can live with that and I'd be the first to congratulate them. But were were a bunch of sloppy, careless, ill disciplined, headless chooks. Against a well drilled, focused and accurate Pumas team we were a distant second.

I've got nothing against Cane, I admire him as a player but I'm not convinced he has the goods to be captain. His comments are extremely ill advised. We know what we saw on Saturday and what makes it worse is that was our second consecutive loss. Where was the famous AB backlash after a loss?

The annoying thing is many of us predicted we would devolve into a shower of shit under Foster's coaching. Even I didn't think he'd drag us down this quickly.

[Olo]

He's not wrong

True, but you cannot actually come out and say it in his position. It’s a bit of a bad look calling your fans rugby ignoramuses.
Hes out of his depth

[Clogs]

And in other news water is wet?

[Brumbie_Steve]

Excuses is an Australian game - let them play it.

She's nice Thomas ... all i've got is this, but i do have a lot of them...

Do you have a photo/clip of Cheika last Saturday night chilling with his mate Mario?

[mr bungle]

He is not far from wrong

Could be from any captain of any sporting team, anywhere. He’d do better to probably shut his gob though.

[Thomas]

[Jay Cee Gee]

TBF, Chikka is probably a good fit once you take away the actual responsibility of running a team or anything to do with tactics. He can just concentrate on things he has in common with the Puma players like passion and being both hairy and bald at the same time.

[mr bungle]

TBF, Chikka is probably a good fit once you take away the actual responsibility of running a team or anything to do with tactics. He can just concentrate on things he has in common with the Puma players like passion and being both hairy and bald at the same time.

What is his area of expertise in the Puma camp? Fire and brimstone was seemingly all he had until the players tired of it.

[Jay Cee Gee]

TBF, Chikka is probably a good fit once you take away the actual responsibility of running a team or anything to do with tactics. He can just concentrate on things he has in common with the Puma players like passion and being both hairy and bald at the same time.

What is his area of expertise in the Puma camp? Fire and brimstone was seemingly all he had until the players tired of it.

I believe it's lineouts and shouting "F*CK OFF!" when they concede a penalty.

[eldanielfire]

NZ fans do have unrealistic expectations. NZ is not as good as it has been / doesn't have the volume of quality players that we have had in the past. I think that's ok to recognise.

Critical for me is than when you play a team that hasn't played in a year you should execute better than they do.

I've been trying to argue this in the Foster thread. New Zealand still produces a conveyor belt of good talent but it can't be generation defining all of the time and currently it is. Someone posted the 2015 team and it is and was vastly superior to every aspect of the 2019 side. Yet somehow fans still expect the same results "if only the right coach was picked". It's chasing rainbows here. Humans can't just be coached to be world class consistently, the talent must be there.

[Tehui]

So if we put results aside, are there some people who seriously think Foster has this team playing at or near full potential?

[eldanielfire]

TBF, Chikka is probably a good fit once you take away the actual responsibility of running a team or anything to do with tactics. He can just concentrate on things he has in common with the Puma players like passion and being both hairy and bald at the same time.

[eldanielfire]

TBF, Chikka is probably a good fit once you take away the actual responsibility of running a team or anything to do with tactics. He can just concentrate on things he has in common with the Puma players like passion and being both hairy and bald at the same time.

What is his area of expertise in the Puma camp? Fire and brimstone was seemingly all he had until the players tired of it.

Interestingly any player I've heard speak about Cheika have always been positive about his coaching ability. Haskell, O'Driscoll etc. We talk about how Oz players didn't respond but I've not head any player ever speak bad about him who was playing under him, even after the RWC. Sometimes the players don't have "it" and there is nothing a coach can do.

[message #2527204]

[AB fans] may like to think they know a lot about the game of rugby, in reality they don't really