Gregor Paul: The moment that proves the All Blacks empire is collapsing

Sam Cane and the All Blacks dejected after the loss. Photo / Getty

One damning moment was the most powerful imagery yet that the Ian Foster regime is collapsing, writes Gregor Paul.

OPINION:

If ever there was a moment in time to signal an empire is crumbling, it was the sight of All Blacks captain Sam Cane being hauled from the Wellington battleground with 15 minutes left of the series decider.

With the test, and the series still in the balance, All Blacks coach Ian Foster removed his general, and in doing so confounded his players, damaged the reputation of Cane and handed Ireland the sort of psychological victory they never imagined was possible.

The All Blacks captain is a sacrosanct position in the world game: a role that carries a weight of respect beyond these shores.

It's a figurehead role as much as anything else – a position that defines the All Blacks' global standing and to see such a vital chess piece removed from the board at such a critical juncture was a decision that was impossibly difficult to understand.

Ireland had wrestled back scoreboard control in the 64th minute when Rob Herring scored a try to make it 32-22, but with 15 minutes left, the All Blacks had enough time to strike back.

The final 15 minutes were the most crucial of the series – the game was still winnable if the home side could stay composed, calm and accurate – qualities that would all be instilled by their captain.

But Foster, deciding his team needed fresh legs and an injection of pace in the form of Dalton Papalii did the unthinkable and told the world his captain wasn't the right guy to lead the renaissance.

Foster would say after the game that it was a move borne by the fatigue his captain was suffering – but the steely glare and hint of disillusionment on Cane's face as he came off and indeed in the post-match press conference when the subject came up, said that the skipper didn't agree with that assessment.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster shakes hands with captain Sam Cane after their loss against Ireland. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Akira Ioane, although he was enjoying arguably his best test, hadn't played since the Super Rugby final and so the argument of fatigue seemed more likely to apply to him than Cane.

For Ireland, the sight of Cane being dragged would have been the moment they knew they had not only won the test and the series, but also officially transcended into the dominant partner in the rivalry with New Zealand.

There they were, on the hallowed soil of New Zealand's capital city and they had produced such carnage as to induce utter panic in the All Blacks coaching box.

When Foster took off Cane, he made it seem that he had no faith in Cane, almost admitting in this one act that the skipper's ability to add to the attack game is so limited as to believe he would have been a hindrance to their quest to score the 11 points they needed to save the game.

Cane deserved better from his coach. His captaincy has been the subject of ample Twitter chatter in the last month - his right to lead the team having been questioned by an ill-informed and rabid public element who have little appreciation of the vital hard edges and graft that the skipper brings.

His work is invaluable, but it's harder to see and appreciate because it's in the darker recesses and New Zealanders gravitate to those whose offering is more visible. The showy types win affection more easily than the dogged.

Cane is a warrior, a hard man who commands the respect of his peers, and while the All Blacks have a litany of problems to fix, their captaincy is not, despite the losses and performances, one of them.

But the world won't believe that now. They saw in real time and in full view, Foster's own faith shaken in his own captain.

The corrosive effect of that decision is going to be significant as among all the signals and evidence that this All Blacks side is in freefall, that one decision to withdraw the captain from the fray was the most damning that confusion and uncertainty now reign.

History shows us that empires tend to collapse on the back of symbolic rather than actual defeats and Cane trundling to the sideline at Wellington is the most powerful imagery yet that the Foster regime is collapsing.