Richie McCaw - A fantastic career

After debuting for NRC side Canterbury, McCaw is handed his debut off the bench for Super 14 side Crusaders in 2001 as the Hurricanes inflicted a defeat on the Crusaders.

In that same season with only 2 sub appearances for the Crusaders and 17 caps for Canterbury, All Black coach John Mitchell selected him on the 2001 end of season tour. McCaw came under some stick for being selected which led to former players saying, "You may as well hand the jersey to anybody." McCaw started against Ireland and after a wobbly first half, put in a fantastic performance in the second half to claim the man of the match award in a 40-29 win for the All Blacks. This was the start of a phenomenal career.

Since his debut for the All Blacks, he had established himself as a starter for Canterbury, Crusaders and the All Blacks. After winning his 2nd Tri Nations title, he was selected in the All Blacks World Cup squad where they reached the semi final, losing unexpectedly to Australia. At the end of the season McCaw was awarded New Zealand's player of the season.

New coach Graham Henry made him a vice captain to Tana Umaga when appointed boss of the All Blacks and when Umaga was rested against Wales in 2004, McCaw captained the side to victory.

At the age of 25, McCaw is named captain of the All Blacks after 36 test matches. McCaw captained the team to a Tri Nations title and on a personal note, after missing out on the award 3 times, he was named IRB player of the year.

McCaw was named captain for the All Blacks for the 2007 World Cup in France. The All Blacks had their worst World Cup in history, knocked out to the hosts France in Cardiff. McCaw's captaincy is criticised, being accused of not inspiring his team, lacking the ability to change policy when plan A was not working and not providing enough leadership on the field.

A disappointing World Cup was put to one side as in 2008 McCaw won his 4th and Crusaders 7th Super 14 title. This was to be the last title he would win with the Crusaders.

The season started poorly with the Crusaders only managing to finish 4th in their quest to retain the title. The All Blacks had a disappointing year, losing their Tri Nations title and suffering 4 defeats, the worst that McCaw suffered in his All Blacks career.

A much better season in the black jersey, the All Blacks regained the Tri Nations title and only suffered one defeat in the season to Australia. McCaw was named IRB player of year for a second successive season, beating off Victor Matfield, Imanaol Harinordoquy, David Pocock, Kurtley Beale and fellow countryman Mil Muliaina.

McCaw suffered a foot injury in preseason and missed the first 2 months of the Super Rugby season. McCaw recovered in time to play in the home World Cup. Against France in the pool stages McCaw reaches 100 caps but re aggravates his foot injury. McCaw returns at the quarter final stage and leads his side to glory in the final, beating France 8-7. After the final, Graham Henry stated that McCaw could hardly walk and had no idea how he played. Henry conceded that without McCaw, they probably would have lost.

In order to preserve himself ahead of the 2015 World Cup, McCaw decided to take a 6 month break from the game. McCaw returned in the latter stages of the Super Rugby season and returned to the All Blacks for the Rugby Championship, which they won unbeaten. The All Blacks finish the season with a marvelous record, 12 for 12. 

After suffering defeat the week before to Australia. McCaw made his 142nd cap in a 41-13 win which retained the Bledisloe Cup. Cap 142 meant that he had overtaken Brian O'Driscoll's record.

The All Blacks were on the hunt for their 3rd World Cup, McCaw was chosen as captain once more in his last tournament for the All Blacks. McCaw played in all the group games bar the 47-9 win against Tonga. The pressure was on the All Blacks after a sloppy group stage but they came to life with a 62-13 win over France. The All Blacks went onto win the final 34-17 over Australia and for McCaw, a fitting way to finish a fantastic career.