Rees missed the World Cup to have surgery on his neck and during his absence Warburton led Wales in impressive fashion to a fourth-place finish in New Zealand.

But now Rees is back in action after coming off the bench in the Scarlets’ RaboDirect PRO12 defeat of Ulster at the weekend.

And the 30-year-old has his sights set on Wales’ rematch against Australia at the Millennium Stadium in order to stake his claim ahead of the 2012 RBS 6 Nations.

He said: “The captaincy is definitely something I want to try and put my name forward for.

"I loved every minute of being captain of Wales and hopefully that comes up again in the future.

"That's down to Gats [Gatland] and it's his decision. Hopefully I can get the captaincy back.

"I've got a massive couple of months ahead of me and I've got to get back to full fitness.

"If I'm playing well and deserve a place in the squad then so be it. But my main aim is to get back to playing.

"But [I need to take] one step at a time making sure I get back to my best and everything else will fall into place.

"If I can get back then there's no reason why I can't feature in that Australia game.

"He's going to be a great leader. He's shown that during the World Cup and he's done a great job and I'm pleased for Sam."