Cane is expecting a tougher challenge from the Waratahs when they meet on Friday night, in the first game of the Super Round (which has been shifted to a 7pm kick-off due to the Moana-Force game being called off).

The All Blacks flanker said he’d impressed with NSW’s vast improvements this year, particularly in defence.

“That’s been the main thing we have looked at, how they defend,” Cane said.

“They have got a lot of guys who are good chop tackles, tackle low and allow their loose forwards to get over the ball at the breakdown. A lot of the key stats we look at defensively, accuracy and the quality of tackles, they are areas the Waratahs are leading the whole comp in, not just the Aussie sides.”

The Waratahs’ turnaround from a winless 2021 is no surprise to Cane, who said he saw similarities to the fortunes of the Chiefs in 2020, who lost 11 straight games but weren’t a bad team.

“You can almost liken what they went through last year to us,” Cane said.

“Not a bad team, still got a good roster and a lot of guys who went through some harder times. If you have good character within the squad and learn from those experiences and become a tighter unit from it. It is pretty obvious the Tahs have done that.”

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Many are tipping the Kiwi sides to sweep the floor with the Australian teams again, after New Zealand teams won all but two of the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competition matches last year. But Cane said New Zealand sides would not be getting over-confident.

“Last year we made the final of the New Zealand Super Rugby comp, and just lost to the Crusaders in the final, and we came over here and were lucky to get away with a win against the Force and we lost against the Reds,” he said.

“So when you look at all those (2021) games, there will be many in there that were super close, and the overall history of Super Rugby isn’t as lopsided as last year. I would love for the Kiwi teams to get up in all of them but I think will be a lot more challenging. We are not taking the Waratahs lightly by any means.”