Sam Cane, the captain of the All Blacks, has a back ailment that he reportedly sustained while playing in Japan.
Rich Freeman, a rugby journalist from Japan, revealed on X, the previous Twitter platform, earlier this month that Cane and Springboks winger Cheslin Kolbe had sustained injuries while competing for Tokyo Sungoliath.
Cane “may be out for 10 weeks,” according to Freeman’s first tweet, because of the severity of the injury.
However, in spite of the Herald’s inquiries to Cane’s representatives, the All Blacks, and the Chiefs, no details on the 32-year-old’s present state of health are accessible.
Cane hasn’t played for Tokyo since his team’s 36-34 victory over the Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars on January 20.
Since then, the Sungoliath have participated in three games, winning two of them over Ricoh Black Rams and Hanazono Kintetsu Liners after losing to Panasonic Wild Knights.
Cane would be concerned about any possible back injury because he struggled with similar problems at the Rugby World Cup in France last year.
Cane was forced out of the All Blacks’ opening tournament match against their hosts owing to a back injury, and he was unable to play in the 27-13 loss.
Cane did not play in the 71-3 victory over Namibia either, but he did start the 73-0 triumph over Uruguay and came off the bench in the 96-17 victory against Italy.
At a time when the league is trying to establish itself as a real contender to the likes of Super Rugby Pacific, France’s Top 14, and the English Premiership, a dearth of news is a bad picture for Rugby League One in Japan.
The dearth of playing time for Cane coincides with rumors regarding the identity of Scott Robertson’s first All Blacks captain.
Robertson stated in January that he still needed to decide who will captain his team when they play England later this year.
“When we name the squad going into the series, I’ll name the captain,” he declared.
He stated. “I need to speak to a few individuals, engage in dialogue, attract some attention, go on the odd knee, and strike up a few talks.
“We must take that action for all available options.”
For the NZ Herald, Alex Powell serves as the online sports editor. His career as a sports journalist began in 2016, after which he worked for Newshub and 1News.
