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You either love him or loath him. He’s either a saint or a villain. The greats always polarise opinion, and in Richie McCaw, there has perhaps been no greater player.
And after eight months on sabbatical, the King is back, making his return this weekend via Christchurch club rugby, well-rested and ready to sit on his throne again as leader of the rugby world.
Arguably the greatest player in history is getting ready to lace up his boots and begin his journey, where injury permitting, he will lead the All Blacks into battle in 2015.
The numbers speak for themselves. Three time world player of the year. Most capped All Black. Most Tests as captain of the All Blacks. Only player to win 100 Test matches in his career.
Yes you read that correctly, McCaw has been in 104 winning sides out of 116 Tests played, that’s a winning percentage of 90 percent.
Putting that winning percentage into context, George Gregan the champion Wallaby halfback won 93 of his 139 Tests for a winning ratio of 68percent.
His career has coincided with the Tri Nations format where the All Blacks have regularly played South Africa twice a year and Australia up to four times a year, making that winning percentage all the more impressive.
McCaw has played around a third of his Test matches against sides consistently ranked numbers two and three in the world. No easy beats to skew the numbers.
McCaw has won eight Tri-Nations (Rugby Championships) and never lost the Bledisloe Cup in his 12-year Test career.
He has not only beaten the Lions (3-0), but has notched Grand Slams and won a World Cup with a broken foot.
The loss to England last December was McCaw’s first on an end-of-year tour. Not bad considering the All Blacks tour Europe every year nowadays, World Cup years being the only exception.
Yes he is getting older. In fact in 2011 critics were arguing that McCaw’s best was behind him, that the new breed had overtaken him.
Little did they realise at the time that McCaw had a broken foot, didn’t train for three months and played through the pain barrier to lead the team to the Holy Grail, outplaying David Pocock in the semi-final.
Opposition fans love to knock him. A colleague recently said that McCaw was past it, that he was too old now.
Well this same colleague can’t have watched rugby in 2012 where McCaw led the All Blacks to 12 wins, one loss and a draw and was again nominated for the IRB world player of the year award.
In fact, McCaw has many knockers (mainly Australian, South African and English).
Though, this can probably be seen as more of a back handed compliment than anything else. Fans fed up with a great player continually ruining their side’s chance of success.
McCaw’s objective is to defend the All Blacks’ World Cup crown in 2015. And though 2015 doesn’t sound like a long time away, a lot can happen in two years.
All Blacks opposition will write him off at their peril, however, it would be foolish to bet against McCaw being there for the next global event. In fact, we may just see McCaw notching up 100 Test wins as captain before time is called on his career.
That would be a record that would stand the test of time.
Whatever does happen, the man will go down as one of the greats, if not the greatest player to pull on a set of rugby boots. And when the sad day comes that Richie Hugh McCaw retires, a future outside of rugby in New Zealand beckons.
Sir Richie McCaw for Prime Minister?
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.