Sam Cane brushes off O'Mahony sledge
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Sam Cane has brushed off the verbal jab he received from Ireland stalwart Peter O’Mahony on Saturday, calling it part of the game and “good banter”.
The All Black captain and O’Mahony found themselves in each others’ faces during the Test before O’Mahony’s sledge of ““Who do you think you are? You’re a sh*t Richie McCaw, pal.” was picked up on the referee’s microphone.
It can be argued that O’Mahony had earned the right to run his mouth after an immense personal performance which greatly aided his team’s maiden Test victory on New Zealand soil.
However, Cane has taken the joust in his stride.
“It’s just good rugby banter, it’s all part of the game, I don’t mind it. It’s good stuff,” he said.
Turning his focus to the all-important decider this weekend, Cane said:
“We had a good day yesterday highlighting the areas that we want to get better at so better way than to practice them than in conditions like this, and there’s every chance it could be like this on Saturday as well.
“The drive is massive. We are hugely disappointed with what we dished out on Saturday. Credit to Ireland, they played really well, but we need to be so much better and our drive is the fact that we have pride in the jersey and we’re not happy with what we put out so we’re working really hard to make sure that that doesn’t happen again.”
Peter O'Mahony lives for this. pic.twitter.com/0pauQlIvPO
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) July 9, 2022
Upon reflection of last Saturday’s loss, Cane shared his thoughts.
“Rugby can be a simple game and we had 27 unforced errors. If you think about how many minutes we had the ball, that’s just ridiculous. Our discipline let us down massively.
“A lot can change in rugby in seven days. We have to make sure we fix it up, but the belief is strong, the group is tight, we are together. I don’t feel like there are any chinks inside the camp.
“It’s just about channelling our emotions in the right way. Like we’re angry and disappointed with ourselves but there’s no point dwelling on that performance for too long. We have to pick ourselves up and shift the mindset really early to highlight the things we need to get better at, and that’s quite energising and exciting, and then we save those other emotions for Saturday night.”
