Sam Cane has been working very hard this afternoon on the Chiefs Openside back row at No.7, especially when his side made up lost time to come back from behind by leapfrogging the Hurricanes throughout the 2nd 40. He has tremendous physicality, tall reach, leadership and communication skills that what makes Sam such a great player both at Super Rugby & International level. Not only he helped the Chiefs score a series of 2nd 40 tries going forward, but he also has a great defensive skillset where Sam read well to stop an isolated & faltering Canes attack by giving the ball back in his own end. It goes to reflect how good he is right now, having seen his side remain undefeated going into the 2nd half of 23’.
Next up is fellow Chiefs star at No.10 in Damian McKenzie who also made such a stunning impact at the same time as the skipper. His kicking & conversion skills has been excellent as always, particularly when he sinked a long penalty goal from halfway. Plus, he drew the execution of the attack really well that got his side back on track later in the 2nd half including one big score for himself towards full-time. He just simply ticks all of the above with an abundance of pace & physicality in the hope of delivering them the championship for the first time in a long time since 2013.
And No.9 Cam Roigard played a huge role of his Canes flying fightback in the first half against a decent Chiefs side. Love how he gets to run through the channels with pace where Cam touched down his side’s 2nd TRY, as well as working with the forwards & backline at the same time so things can end up smoothly which worked well from the beginning. He’s got so much potential at such a young age who can not only plan out the attack, but also use his physicality & pace to rip out the opposition defenders himself as well. Sadly, the 2nd 40 just wasn’t the same when the Canes couldn’t stay ahead, with ill-discipline & poor defense being the main deficiencies that isolated their attack dearly in the end.
