All Blacks: Wise Cane a captain in making

Second-year player shows his impressive leadership qualities within inner sanctum.

Now that he's a second-year All Black, settled and more at ease with test football and all that it takes, the qualities of Sam Cane are easier to see.

He is, most definitely, an All Black captain in waiting. Should anyone think such a prediction is going to burden a young man with needless expectation - don't bother.

Cane's his own man. Thinks his own thoughts. He understands, better than most young players, that he can't solely determine his fate but he can do plenty to shape it. He may be flattered that others see him as a future captain: he may not give it any thought or care a jot. But what he does realise is that none of it matters.

His career path is his and no one else's to shape and it's that certainty - maturity beyond his years - that has drawn the coaches towards him. Cane is not necessarily the man he appears to be.

There is unquestionable depth to his character, intelligence and a little good humour. He may grow to hate the comparison, but dare it be said, he's as much like Richie McCaw off the field as he is on it.

The measured analysis is all there. Nothing knocks him out of his stride and there is nothing glib or cliched about Cane.

If he seems like a man of few words then it's only because he's deduced that a few words are all that is needed. It's become apparent over the course of the year as he's grown more comfortable on the field and a bigger part of the All Black machine, that so too has he come out of his shell in the public arena.

And the more that emerges, the more it becomes obvious why the All Black coaches elevated him to the leadership group this year. Being in the inner sanctum is something that he's relished.

"We work closely with the coaches. It's been a good learning for me throughout the year looking behind the scenes and the extra thought that goes into each week and managing the players. It's been something that I've enjoyed," says Cane.

"The added responsibility is something I've enjoyed and I'm just trying to learn off them. Within that group we've got four of the most capped All Blacks of all time and some pretty good leaders in there."

He peddles an inordinate amount of sense for someone so young. The danger of placing responsibility on him at such an early stage in his career was Cane believing he had somehow nothing left to learn.

That's not his style though and the coaches knew it. They knew he'd be a giant sponge, shadow McCaw and suck in everything the skipper says and does. The results speak for themselves - Cane has reached this stage of his second season as the undisputed and rightful heir to the All Black No7 shirt.

He's probably more than that. He's maybe even the heir apparent to the heir apparent: the man who will be Kieran Read's lieutenant after McCaw toddles off into the sunset.

To that end, the selectors may have had it in mind before they set off for Europe that the Irish game would be a chance to play Cane alongside McCaw at No8. That prospect may still be on the table, but the worst case scenario for Cane is that he's restored to the bench and given a decent run to provide one last reminder that he's got a solid grasp on what test football is all about.