Rugby: Rookie marks the best in first outing

Sam Cane will face Richie McCaw tonight. Photo / APN

You can forgive Sam Cane for looking like an awestruck fan when he takes the field for the Chiefs in Napier tonight.

The Reporoa 21-year-old will make his Chiefs starting XV debut tonight against the Crusaders.

"Up against Richie McCaw in my first outing," Cane said. "It doesn't get much bigger than that."

Any bigger, in fact.

"Absolutely, he's the best in the world. It's hard not to think about it, it's always in the back of my mind, but I've got to look at it as an opportunity."

The flanker made the Bay of Plenty ITM Cup side last year, but an ankle injury restricted his involvement to four games. Since then he has, in his own words, been on a steep learning curve as part of the Chiefs' wider training group.

Flatting in Hamilton with Craig Clarke and Culum Retallick has also given him an appreciation of the demands of a professional rugby player ... and spaghetti bolognaise.

Cane might appeal as a baitfish being dangled among circling sharks, but he can take comfort in the fact he's part of a squad that has developed real belief.

After a disappointing first half of the season, the Chiefs have hit the turn running, taking three of their past four games and in the process taking points off the Highlanders, one of the teams they must overtake to have any chance of progressing to the playoffs. If that victory was notable, their win against the Stormers, coming from a 3-20 deficit at the break, was entirely unexpected.

The Chiefs were criticised for their one-off running approach to the Stormers in the first half of that clash. Foster was unrepentant, however, and said there would more of it against the Crusaders.

"It's a formula you have to adhere to against very good defensive teams," he said. "There's no way you can just go out there and chuck the ball around, chuck it out to Siti [Sivivatu] and Lelia [Masaga] and hope they're going to score tries any more.

"Defences are getting better and better organised."

So repetition and, more importantly, possession becomes a weapon in itself. The longer you keep knocking on the door with simple ball-in-hand stuff, the more energy you sap from defenders. That enables players with good footwork, of which the Chiefs have plenty, to get their opportunities against tired defenders late in games.

Meanwhile, the Crusaders were hit with a further injury blow yesterday. Reserve hooker Quentin MacDonald was ruled out after tweaking his back in training. His place has been taken by David Hall, who will suit up with the Crusaders for the first time.

Lelia Masaga, who was bracketed alongside Tim Nanai-Williams, has been ruled out for the Chiefs with a leg injury. Mike Delany comes on to the reserves bench.