The 22-year-old suffered a bad hamstring injury during training with Wales ahead of the Guinness Six Nations campaign and is still going through rehab work as he attempts to regain match fitness following surgery.
Lockdown has meant he hasn’t missed as much rugby as he might have done and he is hoping to be available for Cardiff Blues when rugby finally returns.
All the signs are that could be in August, with a few rounds of inter-regional matches, and Lane is keen to add to the 23 tries he has already scored in his 47 games to date for the Blues.
“I’m still rehabbing that injury,” Lane told Engage Sport, “I’m still not 100 per cent and that’s my main goal.
“I’m just thinking about how I get myself back fit and into a position that if we do go back to training, I would also be able to train fully and be available for selection.”
The Regional players are hoping to be called back into training early next month as lockdown restrictions continue to ease. In the meantime, they have all been training hard on their own while on furlough.
Lane has been back at home with his parents and has been using the back garden to carry out his rehab work.
“I know it’s tough for people who can’t go outside when the weather has been like this, but for me it’s been quite easy. In a weird way it’s taken the stress off the injury and the timescale and it’s allowed me to be a bit more reserved in my rehab and laid-back in my approach,” said the two-cap wing man.
The former Whitchurch HS pupil marked his Wales debut with a try against Ireland in the World Cup warm-up match in Cardiff on 31 August, 2019, and then earned a late call-up to the squad in Japan as a replacement for the injured Josh Navidi.
That led to a second cap in the Bronze Final fixture against New Zealand, when he started on the wing in the 40-17 defeat in Tokyo. That made up for the bitter disappointment in not making the initial squad for the tournament.
“My first cap was quite strange because I shared that with Rhys Carré. We’ve known each other since we were 10 and we’ve played with each other throughout the age-grades, the Blues and schools rugby, so to play together for the first time was pretty amazing – it just made the occasion even more special,” said Lane.
“I was lucky to get the reward of playing against Ireland after all the hard training before the World Cup. That was my first cap, but then came the disappointment the day after of not being selected for the squad gong to Japan.
“Within the space of 24-48 hours I had the highlight of my career, and being over the moon, to the biggest set-back.
“Luckily enough I got my shot in that third-fourth play-off game and I got my second cap against the All Blacks.”
