Ex-All Blacks captain Sam Cane‘s last act against South Africa was walking off Stade de France in the 28th minute of a World Cup final. Ask him about South Africa now and he does not mention that night. He calls it the favourite place he ever played.
Not the hardest. The favourite.
Late in the same interview on The Aftermatch with Kirst & Stephan he was asked which opponent stood out from all of it — 104 Tests, two generations of Springboks, from Victor Matfield to Pieter-Steph du Toit, who leads South Africa out at Ellis Park on Saturday. He answered before the question had finished.
“No one there wants you to win”
Sam Cane ran into that generation of Springboks forwards early. His Chiefs debut season took him to Ellis Park against the Lions and to Loftus against the Bulls the following week, which in 2011 meant Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha at the peak of it. He was nineteen. His first Test start against South Africa came two years later, in 2013, the season Richie McCaw took his sabbatical. Cane was 21.
Asked what South Africa means to him, he did not answer with a result.
“It’s sort of the greatest test, I reckon. It’s almost that feeling of like, circle the wagons. It’s us against everyone else. No one there wants you to win. They’ll pat you on the back and tell you how much they love the All Blacks during the week, and then you’re on the bus to the game and there’s fans pulling the fingers at you.”
Thirteen wins in a row for the Springboks. What’s your prediction?
Sam Cane remembers the crawl to the ground more than the ground itself. The bus slowing to walking pace a kilometre out. Braais on the pavement. People on the road, in no hurry to move. And on one of those crawls, a busload of South African supporters gave the All Blacks the fingers through the window, and one of the senior players leaned across the aisle and gave them straight back.
Ellis Park is still his favourite stadium in world rugby.
“There’s the tension or the animosity in the air that you can feel. It’s not the warmth of, oh, the All Blacks are here. It feels like the knives are out already, ready to be thrown … You sort of end up thriving off that. It’s us 23 who are running out there today versus the Boks plus everyone in the stadium.”
he did win there. In August 2022, with Ian Foster’s job hanging on the result, the All Blacks took Ellis Park 35-23 and Cane scored. Not many get to say it — New Zealand have won six of sixteen Tests at that ground.
Why Sam Cane named Pieter-Steph du Toit first
Two generations of Springboks. Matfield, Botha, Duane Vermeulen, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi. Asked which of them stood out, Cane picked one, straight away, no hedging.
“Obviously Pieter-Steph du Toit. He seems to have a bad injury run, but he’s come right for the Boks. He’s just so relentless.”
Pushed on why, he reached back a generation.
“It’s a little bit like what Schalk Burger was. Both massive humans, both got the blonde hair, but just huge, huge engines. They go all day, keep getting up in your face, never take a backward step.”
He picked that comparison on instinct, and it holds up better than he probably knew. Schalk Burger was World Rugby player of the year in 2004. Du Toit has won it twice, in 2019 and 2024 — the only South African ever to do so, and one of only four players in the history of the award.
Du Toit leads the Springboks at Ellis Park wearing seven. Kolisi trained all week and Rassie Erasmus said he could have been selected, but with four Tests in four weeks the hamstring was not worth the risk, so Paul de Villiers starts at six on his first appearance against New Zealand. The armband goes to the man Cane named first, unprompted, out of a decade of opponents.
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The man in Sam Cane’s jersey, described in the same words
Twenty minutes later, Cane was asked what he makes of Luke Jacobson — the man who starts at openside on Saturday, in the jersey Cane made his own for a decade. 104 Tests, 77 of them from the start.
“For a long time I’ve believed that Luke hits harder than anyone in this country, like consistently. He may not have the big one-off tackle that absolutely makes a highlight reel, but in terms of consistently stopping guys where he hits them and moving bodies at breakdowns, he’s tough. He’ll never take a backwards step.”
Never takes a backward step. Never takes a backwards step. Two players, twenty minutes apart, and Cane did not connect them himself.
Seven against seven
So Cane has told you where he thinks this Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry opener is decided. Not the halfback duel, not the bench. Seven against seven — du Toit, who beat him in Paris, against Jacobson, who he rates higher than anyone in New Zealand for the hit.
My read: Jacobson wins the first twenty and du Toit owns the last twenty, and the last twenty is where South Africa have settled this fixture for a decade. The Springboks have not lost in thirteen matches, twelve of them Tests. The All Blacks have won six of sixteen at this ground. Tell me why this one is different.
South Africa play New Zealand at Ellis Park on Saturday 22 August, kick-off 17:10 SAST. It is the first of four Tests.
