Rugby: All Blacks captain Sam Cane reflects on rocky year on eve of test against Italy

Everything is going according to plan for Sam Cane – at least at the back end of the year.

Leading the All Blacks out against Italy on Sunday morning, it's another box ticked on the road back to his best after a long stint on the sidelines due to injury.

Back in March, Cane suffered a pectoral injury which required surgery to repair. While he was at it, he had some lingering issues with his shoulder fixed as well.

After months of recovery and rehabilitation, it finally became clear Cane would be able to feature in the All Blacks' End of Year tour in some capacity; with the incumbent captain and team management setting goals for what they hoped to achieve on the tour.

"Once it was established I was going to be coming on tour, Fozzie (All Blacks coach Ian Foster) and I set out a bit of a three-game plan, and this was part of that plan," Cane said of captaining the side against Italy.

Cane made his first appearance for the All Blacks this season a fortnight ago, coming off the bench in their big win over the United States.

It was a welcome return to the Test arena for the openside flanker and, reflecting on it, he said he felt like he had made plenty of improvements in the past couple of weeks following his return.

"I'm in a way better spot than I was three weeks ago. It's all part of it, and now I'm ready to rip in," Cane said prior to the match against Italy.

"I think a couple of weeks ago against the States, with not much rugby training under my belt compared to where I'm at now, I'm miles ahead."

Cane is one of a number of players in the All Blacks squad to have worked their way back into the side following lengthy injury stints in the past year, and said in terms of his game, the biggest challenge in returning to the game was building confidence in the contact areas where shoulder contact is required – such as cleaning out the breakdown and making tackles.

He did not have a lot of time to get back into the swing of things before joining the All Blacks in the United States, with his only game-time coming in the form of a 57-minute stint for the King Country Rams in a Heartland Championship match.

Reflecting on the journey he has taken to get back to the top level this year, Cane said focusing on the small wins was an important part of the process.

"It's hard to put in to words," he said of the toll an injury takes on an athlete. "It challenges you in all sorts of ways mentally and physically – if anything, probably more mentally.

"I tried to focus on the process and celebrating small improvements, and get satisfaction and motivation from seeing the little bits of hard work improve rather than focus on the end result.

"The biggest challenge was the rehab, without a doubt. But in terms of rugby stuff, nothing's been super challenging. I suppose the biggest part has just been getting more and more confidence in the shoulder and sharpening up in the areas that require shoulder contact, like the cleanout and tackle.

"I sort of came back and wasn't tackling and cleaning out exactly where you want to be, but it's just about fine tuning those things each week and each week it's getting better."