Cane ‘lucky’ after break
All Blacks flanker Sam Cane feels fortunate to slowly but surely be taking small steps towards returning for the end of the next Super Rugby season as he recovers from the broken neck he sustained in South Africa last month.
Cane required surgery to save him from paralysis after fracturing a bone in his neck when the All Blacks beat the Springboks 32-30 in Pretoria on October 7.
The 26-year-old revealed he was halfway through wearing a neck brace on his road to a ‘‘slow’’ recovery after sustaining a small fracture in a vertebrae on the lower right side of his neck.
Cane stayed down and looked in immediate pain after an awkward collision in a tackle with Springboks loose forward Francois Louw.
At the time of the injury, All Blacks doctor Tony Page said Cane hadn’t suffered from any nerve damage – something that could have caused long-term problems – and the Chiefs openside has admitted he’s lucky to be in a position where it’s expected he’ll make a full recovery in time for the World Cup kicking off in Japan next September.
‘‘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 said.
‘‘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 all right.
‘‘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.’’
Cane had to remain in hospital in South Africa for a week as the
All Blacks returned home and the operation on his injured neck was successful.
The All Blacks shared a picture of Cane in the hospital’s corridors, saying he was taking his ‘‘first steps to making a full recovery’’ from an injury he described as ‘‘reasonably serious’’.
Cane, who has been the regular All Blacks No 7 since Richie McCaw’s retirement in 2015, was unavailable for the tour to Japan and Europe and Ardie Savea has played openside flanker in his absence.
He said he was hoping to play some part in the final stages of the Chiefs’ 2019 campaign, meaning a potential return in May, with his recovery not ‘‘tracking too bad’’.
‘‘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.
‘‘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.’’
The next Super Rugby season begins in February and runs uninterrupted through to July, so Cane is expecting his return to come well before the All Blacks begin their defence of the World Cup in Japan.
Their first pool match is against the Springboks on September 21 and Cane, who has played in 60 tests since his All Blacks debut in 2012, would be back in contention should his recovery go as planned.