Cunningham can exploit his licence to roam on return for Great Britain

After three years on the international sidelines Keiron Cunningham aims to make up for lost time against New Zealand tonight, writes Dave Hadfield

It is almost three years since the St Helens hooker last wore that garment. In the third Test against New Zealand in 2002, he stuck out his arm to fend off a tackler and snapped his elbow - joint, tendons and all. "When you take the rugby field you need to expect the worst, but I didn't expect anything quite as bad as that," he says.

Cunningham did not play again for six months. Equally frustrating for those who despaired of seeing the best British hooker back in the Test side, he did not play in the internationals at the end of the 2003 or 2004 seasons either.

On both occasions, he and his club decided that he needed surgery at the end of the season, giving the unfortunate impression that neither party was all that keen on him reviving his Great Britain career.

"It's a fine line. You train and play through the season and, by the end of it, everyone needs something fixing up," he says. "Sometimes you've got to sacrifice things for the good of your club and your career. For the last two years, I've had to sacrifice Great Britain."

There was an extra reason why, to some minds, Cunningham might have been hesitant about resuming his Test career. In 2003, he tested positive for the growth hormone, HCG, was fined £2,500 and given a one-year ban, suspended for a year. The independent panel that adjudicated on the case said that there were mitigating circumstances, which turned out to be that Cunningham had been given the substance by a since-discredited member of the Great Britain backroom staff.

It was a trying time. "[It was] something I had to go through," says Cunningham. "But it never had the effect of making me not want to play for Great Britain again."

If the appetite had ever waned, it has been reawakened this season, when he has avoided injury so effectively that he has been ever-present for Saints. During a turbulent season at Knowsley Road, he has also been a model of consistency. Jamie Lyon might have been the stand-out individual, but Cunningham has run him close for man-of-the-match awards and overall influence.

He gives a lot of the credit for that to the coach who took over from the sacked Ian Millward in mid season. Daniel Anderson also happens to be the immediate predecessor of tonight's Kiwi coach, Brian McClennan, and Cunningham is a fan. "I've never worked under a coach like Daniel," he says. "He's just a natural individual. He's inspiring - he makes you want to play for him and lets you play the way you like playing.

"He's just given me more freedom and responsibility. He lets you go out and express yourself. Brian Noble [the Great Britain coach] gives me just as much freedom and it's been great in training so far."

Anderson's conviction that Cunningham is the No 1 hooker in the game was reflected in the recent transfer deal that saw his understudy, Mick Higham, rejoin Millward at Wigan. Cunningham admits that it will feel strange not having Higham yapping at his heels at Saints next season, but he is there, filling very much the same role for Great Britain in this tournament.

"Mick and I are very good friends. I brought him under my wing when he came to the club and there's never been any rivalry between us. We used to stay behind after training and do a lot of work together. There were times when I used to learn off him and he'll be a big loss to St Helens."

Higham could be on the bench today, ready to come into the game and give his mentor a break - or to allow him to switch to back row, as he has done effectively for Saints this season - but Cunningham has lost time in a Great Britain shirt to catch up.

"I've not been in too many successful Great Britain sides," he says. "And I want to start putting that right."

It is not the sort of game in which he will be able to ease his way back into the action with New Zealand having opened the tournament with a surprise victory over Australia, before losing out 28-26 in last weekend's return match. "New Zealand have been outstanding so far, but we've got a pretty good pack ourselves. We've got a team full of very able players and the whole set-up is a bit more professional than it was when I was last involved.

"I'm just looking forward to putting on a Great Britain shirt again and playing with a group of players I've been watching and admiring through the year."

It is a group of players that can only be stronger for the return, after that three-year interlude, of Keiron Cunningham.