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'When I look back and see the scans and realise how lucky I am' candid Cane reflects on neck break

Sam Cane. Photo / Getty Images
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New Zealand flanker Sam Cane hopes to return in time for the end of the 2019 Super Rugby season after breaking his neck against South Africa last month.

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Cane sustained the injury during the Rugby Championship clash in Pretoria and was fortunate to avoid paralysis.

But the 26-year-old is already targeting a return to action and hopes he could be back in a Chiefs jersey by the end of the next campaign.

“When I look back and see the scans and realise how lucky I am, I’m just happy I’m going to make a recovery and I’ll be back playing,” Cane told The Country radio show.

“There was never really a moment where I was really scared because at the same time that I found out I’d fractured my neck, everything was also alright.

“I could feel my toes, my hands, so there was no stress there. I was already in their care, so it wasn’t going backwards from there.”

Elaborating on his recovery, Cane added: “I’ve got this neck brace on for three months and I hit the halfway point on Monday this week, so another six weeks to go in it.

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“Pretty immobile at the moment, parked up at home not able to drive. I’m a stay-at-home dad without the kids, doing jobs around the house and a bit of Netflix. It’s a bit boring.

Watch: All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen explains why Ireland are World Cup favourites.

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“All going well. I’ll probably get the last four to five games of Super Rugby in. We’re a little bit sceptical to put a date on it at the moment because I’ve only seen a specialist once and it all just depends on how it heals.

“[It’s] a lot to do with the bone fusing with the two vertebrae together. It could be longer so I just don’t want to say it’s a date and then keep pushing it out. We’ll just see how it goes. I’m just happy that I’ll be back playing.”

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Cane has been the All Blacks’ first-choice number seven since the retirement of Richie McCaw in 2015 and has amassed 60 Test caps.

You may also like: All Blacks wing Ben Smith following Ireland’s win

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Phantom 47 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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