Chiefs co-captain Sam Cane reflects on his time in Super Rugby ahead of his 100th game.
Like most good stories, Sam Cane's started in a bar.
It was 2011, Cane was an eager 19-year-old on the cusp of the Chiefs' regular Super Rugby squad. After watching the side fall to the Crusaders at Mt Maunganui's Bay Park, he had gone for a couple of drinks with some friends.
Then the phone rang.
It was coach Ian Foster. Incumbent loose forward Tanerau Latimer had been concussed during the match and would not be fit for the side's road trip to South Africa.
The Chiefs left for South Africa the following morning, with Cane onboard.
The young loose forward was thrown straight into the thick of the Super Rugby competition, making his debut off the bench at Ellis Park in Johannesburg against the Lions.
The Chiefs held a slim lead when, inside the final 10 minutes, Cane was called upon. He made himself a fixture of the rucks and, playing at altitude, was shot within minutes.
The Chiefs turned the ball over inside the final minutes, and were defending for the game.
"My legs were gone," Cane recalls. "I remember struggling to tell the guy – I think it was Craig Clarke - next to me who I had. He was like 'who've you got, Sammy?' and I was like, jeez, this guy's played 80 minutes, I've been out here for five.
Sam Cane and Craig Clarke tackle Wyatt Crockett in a match between the Chiefs and the Crusaders in 2011. Photo / Getty Images.
"I'd gone a bit hard too early."
The Chiefs held on for a 34-30 win, and Cane's career in the professional game had begun. It was the start of what would be a fruitful career in the sport for the then 19-year-old from the Bay of Plenty.
In 2012 and 2013 he was part of back-to-back Super Rugby title-winning campaigns with the Chiefs, earning a test debut for the All Blacks in 2012, before winning the Rugby World Cup with the national squad in 2015.
Sam Cane scored two tries in his second match for the All Blacks, which was against Ireland in Hamilton. Photo / Photosport
On Friday night, the 26-year-old will reach another milestone where he runs out at Hamilton's FMG Stadium for his 100th Super Rugby game in a Chiefs jersey when he captains the side against the Highlanders.
Cane will become just the fifth player to bring up his century for the Chiefs, following in the footsteps of current teammate Liam Messam, who plays his 166th match on Friday, Hika Elliot (117), Latimer (109) and Stephen Donald (104).
From the eager youngster huffing and puffing from playing five minutes at altitude to becoming the Craig Clarke-like ironman of the team's 2018 campaign, he says it doesn't always feel like he's in that position now.
"It's not until you go back and look at a team photo from 2012 or 13 and there's only two or three of us left. The changeover in professional rugby these days is so rapid, I've been fortunate to stick around for a long time."
Chiefs' teammate Nathan Harris would beg to differ. The two played through age grades together and Harris says Cane is someone young players can aspire to be like.
Sam Cane of the Chiefs receives attention from the trainer. Photo / Getty Images
"He's a great dude. He's always striving to be better than he was yesterday," Harris says. "To see him crack up 100 games is unreal, especially being part of that Chiefs region."
Harris' sentiments were echoed by the side's forwards coach Neil Barnes, who says there are few players in world rugby like Sam Cane.
"I don't want to blow it too much out of proportion, but when you look at the whole cross-section of Sam Cane as far as his ability to play, the physicality he brings to the table, his leadership and just the guy as a person and a bloke, I don't find too many that have got that right across the board.
"He's a bloody champion…I have a massive amount of respect for that man and he's earned it."
