All Blacks on ‘high alert’ over David Pocock threat

Editor

Flanker Sam Cane admits that the All Blacks will be on ‘high alert’ as they attempt to counteract the influence of Wallaby back-row David Pocock.

The Australian fetcher is the best in the world at the contact area and made an impressive return to the international arena against Ireland in June.

Although they succumbed 2-1 to the Six Nations winners, Pocock was hugely influential and was the primary reason as to why Michael Cheika’s men remained in contention until the very end.

Cheika will hope that the 30-year-old can have a similar impact in the first Bledisloe Cup game of the season this weekend and Cane admits that New Zealand will have to take extra precautions.

“He’s always a big threat when he plays,” he said. “The way he continually bounces back and plays at a high level is pretty outstanding. It just creates an awareness – we’re on more of a high alert than normal around the breakdown.

“In every Test match there’s always a big emphasis on the breakdown whether it’s their ball or our ball, disrupting their ball or trying to get fast ball. It will be a focus again.”

All Blacks boss Steve Hansen echoed Cane’s comments as the three-time world champions look to start the defence of their Rugby Championship title on a positive note.

“He’s a great scavenger of the ball,” Hansen added. “He’s somebody that we’ll have to be aware of at the breakdown. If we’re not he’ll come in and pinch the ball, so that would be painful.”

[playbuzz-item item=”3061d527-9eae-4943-88f3-9a6a8031f098″ info=”false” shares=”false” wp-pb-id=”438993″]