Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read has spoken of the ruthless single-mindedness that drove the success of Richie McCaw as a captain and athlete. Read revealed in his autobiography Straight Eight that, despite countless hours spent training and touring together, they were basically strangers outside the world of rugby.
I think back to the first time we roomed together, in Sydney with the Crusaders in my first year with the team, and he never once asked me a personal question about my life, family, interests - anything outside the team. He didn't need it in his head when he had other things to think about. I f Dan Carter was New Zealand rugby's poster boy and the greatest back of his generation, McCaw was the power in the pack and tough-as-teak commander who drove on possibly the greatest side in team sport.
McCaw led New Zealand to two World Cup triumphs and was named IRB International Player of the Year three times - a record he shares with Carter - but that was only part of the journey as he helped turn the All Blacks into one of the most powerful brands on the planet. McCaw announced his retirement from rugby the day after All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu's death at the age of 40 sent the sport into mourning.
The endless debates of who is rugby's greatest-ever player will probably be cranked up in the days ahead, but New Zealand's World Cup-winning coach Steve Hansen had no hesitation when he addressed the topic last month.
McCaw, 34, certainly did that as he never shirked a ruck or tackle and emerged the master of the breakdown - the key battleground of modern-day rugby. Yet the young McCaw, who hailed from Scottish stock as his great-great-grandfather had emigrated from the Borders in , did not treat the game seriously until he was a teenager. It was not until , when he boarded at Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin, that his interest in the game grew and his potential took him into the 'Baby Blacks' Under squad which won the world championship in In , he made his Super Rugby debut with the Crusaders, the first of appearances, and he was named Newcomer of the Year by the International Rugby Players' Association in Enter email address This field is required Sign Up.
The openside flanker was traditionally the link between backs and forwards, the man with deft handling skills but who also saw the opponents' outside-half with a target rather than the number ten on his back. But McCaw had sheer brute strength, capable of mixing it with bigger men at the breakdown as well as possessing the speed and handling skills to play the traditional tearaway and free the backs.
So he knows all the things he can do, can't do, and how long he can do the illegal for. Possibly having been an All Black since the tender age of 20, this has given him the time to experience and learn everthing an openside should know.
Or is it because he has been a witness to the wealth of great Flankers that have been a luxury to New Zealand, like Josh Kronfeld so under-rated and ofcourse Michael Jones. Jones redefined the openside flanker role to what it is today. So fast and athletic, every young flanker today that plays the way that they are supposed to are playing a position crafted by a legend. Jones has won a World Cup for starters.
Which Richie really should of done in France. If it wasn't for the choker that the All Blacks choose to wear once ever four years, i'm sure McCaw would have been lifting the Webb Ellis trophy. Quite frankly.
0コメント