All Black Sam Cane has not missed a minute of the action in his first tour as captain and even he is surprised he's endured the tough series with no ill effects.
Sam Cane has been racking up the minutes as All Blacks captain. Photo: Photosport Ltd 2020 www.photosport.nz
Cane will play his fifth Test in six weeks tonight against a Pumas side that has not played international rugby since last year's world cup.
He was on the field for the good and the bad against the Wallabies.
While some of his senior teammates sat out last week's dead-rubber game against Australia, Cane was hearing from the referee what the New Zealanders had done wrong.
But he was also there to lift the Bledisloe Cup after a record-win on 31 October.
Cane admitted coach Ian Foster kept checking in on him over the past few weeks but said he had nothing to worry about.
"To be honest I'm a little bit surprised how well I've been bouncing back with these Test matches," Cane said.
"The body's feeling really good, feel I'm playing well but still feel like I've got areas to improve in and I'm motivated to do that.
"It certainly helps mentally when you're not having to carry and fight through little niggles and injuries and at the moment I'm partaking in every training, full training, and pulling up well so long may that continue."
This week the Chiefs forward faces a different challenge.
The All Blacks have not lost back-to-back matches in almost a decade and have never lost to Argentina in 29 meetings.
Cane said he did not need to motivate his side for their first game against the Pumas in the Tri Nations as they had "a bit of an edge about them already."
"We obviously weren't overly proud of last week's performance and we came out of the review at the start of this week with some pretty clear focuses," Cane said.
Despite the All Blacks history of dominance over the Pumas Cane said they were still wary.
"Any team who have had a lot of preparation building up to a Test match and so much energy has gone into it, they're always going to be a dangerous side,
"They're the first Argentinean team to be playing and out representing their country this year, so they'll go out with immense pride and we know how passionate they can be.
"So we're expecting the first 20 minutes, particularly, for it to be all on."
