Back Richie McCaw AF Richie McCaw AST Riçi Makkou AZ Richie McCaw Catalan Richard Hugh McCaw Czech Richie McCaw German Richie McCaw Spanish Richie McCaw EU Richie McCaw Finnish Richie McCaw French
.jpg) McCaw in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Richard Hugh McCaw | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 31 December 1980 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Oamaru, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 187 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 107 kg (236 lb; 16 st 12 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Otago Boys' High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | Lincoln University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Richard Hugh McCaw ONZ (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby Player of the Year award a joint record three times and was the most capped test rugby player of all time from August 2015 to October 2020.[1] McCaw was awarded World Rugby player of the decade (2011–2020) in 2021. McCaw is also a winner of the New Zealand sportsman of the decade award.
McCaw was the first All Black to reach 100 caps, and the first rugby union player to win 100 tests. He was the most-capped player in rugby union history with 148 caps, having overtaken Brian O'Driscoll's record in 2015 and losing the record to Alun Wyn Jones in 2020. McCaw has also equaled the record for most appearances at the Rugby World Cup, with Jason Leonard.
McCaw predominantly played in the openside flanker position for the New Zealand, Crusaders and Canterbury teams, but also played as a blindside flanker and no. 8. During McCaw's career, Canterbury won the NPC (later Mitre10 Cup) five times, and the Crusaders won four Super Rugby titles. In addition to winning two world cups, the All Blacks won seven Tri-Nations titles, completed three successful Grand Slam tours and won the Bledisloe Cup eight times.
He made his debut in 2001 for the Crusaders, and was selected for the All Blacks' 2001 end-of-year tour, despite having played only eight minutes of Super 12 rugby. His debut for New Zealand was against Ireland, where he was awarded man-of-the-match. McCaw became a regular selection for New Zealand, only missing a few games due to recurring concussions. In 2004 he was appointed captain of the All Blacks, whom he led at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. After their elimination in the quarter-finals, his captaincy came under criticism, but he was retained and eventually led the team to consecutive Rugby World Cup titles in 2011 and 2015, becoming one of only 43 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions. McCaw is however the only captain to have won two Rugby World Cups.[2]
McCaw holds the international record for most game wins as a player at 131.[3] He also holds the international record for most games as a captain at 110.[4]
- ^ Rees, Paul (29 October 2020). "Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones will set world Test caps record against Scotland". The Guardian.
- ^ Palmer, Justin. "Captain fantastic McCaw leads from the front". Reuters. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
- ^ White, Martin. "Richie McCaw". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
- ^ "Most international appearances in rugby union as captain". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 1 September 2023.