When SANZAAR released the draw for this year's Australia-based Rugby Championship, All Blacks captain Sam Cane said he felt "blindsided" by the announcement.
Cane recalled the day the fixtures were announced by SANZAAR, including the December 12 Test against the Wallabies that will potentially see him and his teammates quarantined and away from their families on Christmas Day.
"My first reaction was, 'Hey, that's not what my understanding was, where's this come from?'," Cane said.
"I got on the phone to [coach Ian Foster] pretty quickly and he was much in the same boat saying, 'We didn't see this coming, we're working on it'.
"He had a pretty calm head."
Cane said his next move was to get in contact with other senior members of the team to discuss the situation.
"I got on a chat with the leaders pretty quickly and sort of just reconfirmed, 'Hey this isn't the plan, we're not going to roll over and accept this'.
"All you can really do is try and reassure everyone that we're trying our best to get it under control and get it on grounds that suit us."
Cane added he and the All Blacks didn't think what they were asking for - being out of quarantine before the festive season - was too much.
"It doesn't excite us."
SHARE ME