A captain's knock: McCaw brings up his 100 in style

When I grew up, Canterbury handed over provincial supremacy seemingly overnight to Auckland.

Little did I know it during that epic Ranfurly Shield match at Lancaster Park that Auckland would grow into a juggernaut that would’ve toppled most Test sides.

Indeed, they were almost a Test side and would dominate New Zealand rugby and Test selections for an astonishing prolonged period.

As a Canterbury supporter used to success, this was a bitter pill to swallow. As with Auckland after that Ranfurly Shield match, choosing Canterbury’s best ever season is a tough ask. They were without peer in 1983, winning all 18 domestic games and the Ranfurly Shield–NPC championship double.

The Auckland team would start to rack up success like a snowball rolling down a steep mountain slope. They would become vilified in Canterbury – and probably further afield – by the nature of their success. It wasn’t their fault. They weren’t a side lacking in confidence but given their success that was entirely understandable as well as justifiable.

Their leader, Sean Fitzpatrick, seemed representative of the side. Complete, with no obvious flaws, and extremely annoying. In blue and white, he’d go about his business with aplomb but he’d invariably get involved in some off-the-ball incident and send the opposing fans into foam-mouthed rants.

In black, however, he was a rugby deity. He’d pop up on the wing, he’d get caught on the wrong side of the ruck – and in the days of rucking that meant coming away with signed autographs of the opposing forwards on your back or legs – and he led his side expertly.

The man as a rugby player and leader of the All Blacks always commanded respect. Sure, there might be the odd snigger in his after-match interviews where his tried and tested gems such as ‘full credit to the opposition’ and ‘it was a game of two halves’ would invariably come up, but I honestly thought I’d never get to see a better leader than him.

Especially given what followed. Cue the cold sweats and mental demons recalling the likes of Reuben Thorne, Todd Blackadder and Taine Randell.

When your national team has an embarrassment of riches, it’s easy to think that there will never be an end to your success.

That Auckland side lived off the pack that contained Olo Brown, Craig Dowd, Zinny and Michael Jones and the Whetton Brothers but it also had Joe ‘JK’ Kirwan and ‘Smokin’ Joe Stanley with his upturned collar. When I was at school in Christchurch, everyone wanted to emulate that run JK made against Italy. Everyone wanted to tackle like Michael Jones.

There was never really any problem with this dichotomy. Maybe because it was so obvious that Auckland players were a class above everybody else. I do recall being really ashamed of the partisan crowd late in JK’s career when Lancaster Park erupted into boos when he came onto the field.

On the whole, though, New Zealand may have its provincial favourites they want to push for higher honours but generally they are accepting of the men in black who run out onto the field.

Living this double life of Auckland provocateur and worshipper depending on the jersey those Auckland players were wearing taught me that perspective is crucial when assessing a player’s worth. Objectivity lies somewhere in between the polar opposites and it’s not always easy to find that middle ground.

What I also learned is that all great teams, like Empires, eventually come to an end. Teams like Waikato, Otago, Wellington and North Harbour tried valiantly to wrestle the crown off Auckland but Canterbury suffered one of its lowest points during Auckland’s rise.

Players like Steve Cleeve and Shayne Philpott inspired sniggers more than cheers when they received the ball. Reuben Thorne and Todd Blackadder were hard-working players but they were clearly lacking the natural talent of players such as Michael Jones and Zinzan Brooke.

For that reason Canterbury were the unlikeliest of all rivals to get the better of Auckland. When James Kerr snatched that unlikely try late in the game against Auckland in the Super final in 1998, they had endured 13 painful years since their defeat at Lancaster Park.

It would start a subtle but clear shift of power to the south and would be helped by judicious poaching of players from other areas. One of these players was Richie McCaw.

Unlike Auckland, this dominance by Canterbury wouldn’t be reflected in the makeup of the national side. There were to be three special players in Daniel Carter, Kieran Read and Richie McCaw but the distribution of the overall team was much more balanced.

On the weekend, McCaw brought up his 100th match as captain. He did so against the side he managed to inch past exactly 10 years ago at the same ground. The difference between how he led the team 10 years ago and how he leads the team now is like comparing how much a teenager really knows about life and how much he has to learn about life.

One hundred seems to be an unlucky number in South Africa. John Smit, Bryan Habana and Jean DeVilliers all tasted defeat in their 100 caps. Not so for other teams with Tony Woodcock, Brian O’Driscoll and George Gregan victorious in their 100 caps.

Things were not going New Zealand’s way for a great deal of this match. Wales were pushing New Zealand closer to 70 minutes than their accustomed 60 minutes. There was no sign of panic from the New Zealand leader, however. Wales were doing a lot of intensive work on defence and players like Jamie Roberts, Dan Lydiate, Dan Biggar and James Hibbard should be commended for the brutal hits they put on the New Zealand players.

The space started to open up in that last quarter. The Wales bench was not as adept at stifling the New Zealand space or at least couldn’t stem the gaps that started to open up.

Steve Hansen wanted to see how Beauden Barrett went against a top side and I think he found out what he needed to know. At fullback and late in the game, he showed what a danger he can be when given space. Earlier in the game, and confronted with a Welsh line allowed to creep up well over the offside line, he showed he is not adept at creating space.

His kicks over the rush defence invariably found Jamie Robert’s long arms and to his credit he used the same tactic when he had more space and astonishingly seemed to anticipate the lucky bounce to evade Leigh Halfpenny. His cross-field kick to set up Jerome Kaino’s try was also when he had time and space.

When Colin Slade came on, as he did against Scotland, he looked assured. Cruden is judged to not be versatile enough but I get the feeling that Hansen believes Colin Slade is making it difficult to dismiss him as a genuine starting flyhalf and Beauden Barrett is the one who can offer versatility as a winger, fullback and flyhalf.

Slade’s passing seems crisper as opposed to Barrett’s tendency to shovel and Sonny Bill Williams struggled with the Welsh defence able to get up on him and shut down his space. Contrast Cruden’s partnership against Ireland in the 60-0 drubbing and his ability to create space with a defence rushing up.

As has been the case often this year, a switch went off in the New Zealand team. They sensed the tiring legs of the Welsh players and noticed the gaps that were starting to open up.

This ability to sniff out the opposition’s weakness is not innate. It stems from leadership and somebody has to drive that increase in intensity.

When you realise that O’Driscoll captained his side 84 times and McCaw has more wins than that as captain of New Zealand, you begin to realise the influence of the man.

2013 was a perfect year for New Zealand rugby but they were far from perfect performances. This year has been a further step towards imperfection both in terms of results and performance but New Zealand have still by and large managed to stay ahead of the would-be victors.

I do not expect fans outside of New Zealand to venerate McCaw. Believe it or not New Zealand fans do not need the affirmations of others or seek their respect. By all means vilify the player if you so desire. I know I would knowing how many games he has influenced just as I can remember how frustrated I used to get with Fitzpatrick in Auckland colours.

I do not care for this desire to label players as the best in the business. Rugby is a team game and the exploits are shared equally by the squad.

I only wish to honour McCaw’s contribution to the team he has led and their formidable record. I can fully appreciate other fans not wanting to do the same. But as a New Zealand and Canterbury fan, I salute what McCaw has achieved and thank him for his unparalleled service to the national team and the pride and joy he has brought us.

Like the Wales result, I am all too aware that other fans might well have wanted the Welsh team to spoil their leader’s 100th game as captain. I understand that. This is national rivalry and when a team strings so many wins together, it can get extremely frustrating.

When things are going well, however, the temptation is to think that things will stay as they are forever. It is easy to get complacent. New Zealand are not winning comfortably and they are winning ugly more than they are winning well.

The fact that they are still winning the overwhelming majority of their games is due to many reasons. The fact that there is a good core of senior players to balance out the younger players is certainly a help, as is the fact that individual moments of brilliance are able to get New Zealand out of jail at times rather than a convincing team performance.

You cannot achieve such consistency, however, without a leader. Much like all the factors that go into securing victory, we will never know how much of a leader inspires his players until we no longer have that leader.

With Kieran Read waiting in the wings, we are lucky that there is a natural replacement for the current captain. The fact that he is being kept out of the captaincy is an indication of how fortunate we are.

We must be mindful that this situation will not last forever. Many nations seem to have caught up to New Zealand this year. Or at least have closed the gap enough to trouble them. That should not come as a surprise.

Leaders are not born. They are forged. Paul O’Connell put in a powerful display for his country to overcome the Wallabies. Michael Hooper and Chris Robshaw have to learn not only from their team’s errors but their own if they are going to have the same influence on their sides.

Richie McCaw faced up to the same opponent in his first and 100th Test as captain. It has not been a smooth ride and he has learned a few notable, painful truths along the way.

Who knows what the future holds for McCaw next year but as a fan let me be the first to congratulate him on what he has achieved thus far in his career. What a great knock Richie and, simply put, thank you.