All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has fended off allegations he’s a serial cheat as trans Tasman hostilities continue ahead of Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup blockbuster with the Wallabies at ANZ Stadium.
The champion flanker awoke on Thursday to headlines of “McCaw an outlaw” in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, with the story accompanied by six photos of McCaw illegally positioned at or near a ruck.
The provocative report claimed TV footage showed McCaw entering the ruck from the side seven times, and contesting kicks while offside on three occasions, during New Zealand’s 22-16 win over Australia in Auckland last month.
None of the offences drew a penalty from South African referee Craig Joubert.
The sub heading for the article was: “Captain Outrageous offside again, but seldom with referees”.
While insisting such accusations no longer fazed him, McCaw denied he was international rugby’s so-called Mr Untouchable with match officials.
“Mate, it happens every year so you get a bit used to it,” McCaw said on Thursday.
“Hopefully (I’m) not putting too much pressure on the ref, but I reckon he gets me just as much as everybody else, if not more.”
There is a widely held view among rugby fans that all flankers flaunt the rules and that McCaw just happens to do it better than the rest, including his long-time Wallabies rivals George Smith and Phil Waugh.
“Exactly, they’re real clean too,” McCaw sarcastically remarked when it was suggested Smith and Waugh also pushed the boundaries.
McCaw was more concerned about the All Blacks being a precarious one from three in the annual Tri Nations tournament after losing back-to-back Tests in South Africa.
The Wallabies, though, are none from two following their two away defeats and equally desperate to win on Saturday to stay in contention for both Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations honours.
“I suppose we’ll bash each other this weekend and then the following week we’ll be hoping Australia knocks off Africa,” McCaw said.
“Because we need to do that if we’re both going to stay in the hunt.”
McCaw was unaware the All Blacks had only won three of nine Tests against the Wallabies at Sydney’s Olympic stadium.
“That’s not real good,” he said. “It’s always a tough match, as results have shown over the years.
“But you don’t worry too much about history.
“It’s a pretty cool stadium to play at when you get 80,000 there watching, which is hopefully what they’ll get.”
ohtani's jacket
Guest
But wait... Robbie Deans coached Richie McCaw to play offside. Cannot compute... must seek Fox Sports commentators for guidance...
Brett McKay
Guest
"...yeah, but they're cheating just as much as I am!!", which I guess is better than McCaw saying he can't help it if Smith and Waugh aren't as good at getting away with it... Either way, you'd hate to think McCaw is losing sleep over a Daily Telegraph article..
mother teresa
Guest
hammer,agree;the humerous side of this to me is the mccaws and carters etc will know the lengths deans goes to in manipulating referees;and the aru/dwyer beat up as you suggest is typical and dont for one moment think deans fingerprints arent nearby.
Terry Kidd
Guest
Hoy I agree. Every box kick I have seen put up so far this year very nearly the entire forward pack is off side as they all move forward to contest. In fact for every kick put up someone somewhere is offside. As for RM and not being pinged .... I reckon that it is all square among loosies everywhere .... they all push the boundaries and all get caught sometimes. I wonder if Mr Joubert will penalise the shit out of Baxter again? Or has he had a look at the last match video and changed his opinion? I don't think we will see too much open rugby. Oz will score first try and score more tries but it will be a close result decided by penalties more than tries and conversions.
Hoy
Roar Guru
I have seen several very obvious and glaring offsides this year from boxkicks, not from any one player mind you, but across several teams. You would think this is very obvious to refs, but they have hardly picked one up this year. The halfback takes a step back, lobs one over, and everyone in front just trundles forward to chase. I hate the box kick.
fox
Guest
In my life I have never praised "the Working Man's" for its journalistic standards, but this piece of investigative journalism was outstanding! And completely impartial I might add!
fox
Guest
He's a walking penalty. Period. It's outrageous. If he goes near a ruck, it's immediately a penalty in my mind.
craigb
Guest
I haven't seen the stills, but I believe the one you mention highlights that he was in front of the kicker when he went to contest it. Hence he was offside. Regardless, if he's doing something and it's not penalised then it's legal. I just ask that it is the same for both sides.
katzilla
Roar Guru
Typical of Terrorgraph. Just shows how much their sports writers know about the enlightened game. Half those pictures they showed had nothing to do illegal entry or offside contesting kicks. One picture shows McCaw on the side of the ruck as Cowan puts up a box kick, and they claimed that he is offside contesting a kick. Well nevermind, the rest only wish they had the same reputation.
hammer
Guest
Standard Australian tactics - ESP when they're down - media write the same stuff and roll out the std mouthpieces ... Dwyer / jones and next it will be quotes from ex captains normally farr jones and eales
Derm
Roar Guru
So if Joubert gets whistle happy, that'll knock that myth about NH refs on the head then. :)
Sportym
Guest
If he can get away with it, all the best to him. In regards to their previous encounter Craig Joubert is the clown, if i was Richie I would push the boundries until i got busted by the ref. Its not individual players that are having a huge impact on games these days, its arrogant refs, who seem all to happy to sterotype players. I am really dreading this years tri nations games due to the huge number of NH refs. I hope this weeks enounter is not a whistle fest, Oz/kiwi fans want to see free flowing/attacking rugby, not aireal ping pong.