This last week, which saw former All Black Carl Hayman reveal the mental health trauma he has endured since retiring from the game, has reinforced the image of the sport as cold and ruthless, inflicting untold and irreversible damage on all those who play it.īut as tragic as it is that Hayman is now struggling the way he is and as true as it is that other former players have also been physically and mentally impaired by years of collisions, professional rugby in New Zealand at least, is not an uncaring relentless machine that commoditises the players, eating them up and then spitting them out. The sight of an injured Sam Cane has been all-too common over the past few years. What he might lack in finesse and anticipation, he'll counter with his desire and commitment, and he'll be aiming, despite the odds being stacked against him, to do enough to persuade everyone he's ready to play against Ireland the following week.Įking out one more test cap before the end of the year would be a bonus for Cane – the real prize being that, barring disaster, he's almost certain to head into the summer injury-free and his body, having not been smashed around all year, ready to power through a pre-season workload that should see him emerge into Super Rugby next year in the best condition he's been in since his first professional campaign back in 2012.

While he himself admits his instincts may not be as sharp as he would like them to be given the lack of rugby he's played this year, he'll get round that with his sheer will to be involved. In the three years since November 2018, Cane has spent about 14 months unable to play rugby, which is why this weekend's test against Italy will mean significantly more to him than perhaps it will to the rest of the country struggling to muster enthusiasm for a fixture that is devoid of glamour and intrigue.īut for Cane it will be his first test start of the year and a resumption of the captaincy duties he was so impressively growing into last year.

Twice he's been on the canvas as it were, told his journey back to the playing field would be arduous and in one case – after he'd broken his neck in South Africa in 2018 – not by any means certain to have a happy ending. Twice now, Sam Cane has had to haul himself through long, gruelling rehabilitation stints after incurring serious injury.

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