Loyal to the end
It’s possible that rather than take the offshore dollar, Richie McCaw might see out his career in New Zealand and inspire a generation of players to do the same.
Monday, 05 July 2010
SOMEWHERE ALONG the line the means by which success is measured changed. A good career in the old days was based on the number of test caps won; the quality of performance during that time and an overall sense of whether the All Blacks’ core values were upheld.
These days test caps are just one component. Most players see their careers in wider terms – test caps are only one part of the package. A contract with one of the big European clubs has to be secured. Endorsement deals will add to the good feeling and if a player can reach retirement financially set for life, then every box will have been ticked.
There is no shame in wanting security. The modern players should not be sullied for having different objectives to their amateur predecessors, for who exactly in the corporate world is not planning to be set for life at the end of their career?
It’s not wrong or selfish to want variety, to want to drive more from a short playing window than a collection of the same jerseys.
But it is refreshing, uplifting even, when someone from the current era sets themselves the same goal as his amateur predecessors. And that’s what Richie McCaw has done. His world is less cluttered than many of his peers.
There is purity in his ambition. His desire to become an iconic All Black is noble even, largely because it has taken such strength of character, such surety of mind to stand against the flow and reject many of the game’s modern trappings.
McCaw’s place in history is already secure. He’s done enough to be remembered as one of the best, if not the best openside flanker to ever play for New Zealand. His captaincy has grown in stature and at some stage this season if he avoids injury, he’ll surpass the 51 tests at the helm amassed by Sean Fitzpatrick.
The fine detail on how history remembers him depends on events next year. The World Cup wields disproportionate influence. Fitzpatrick, although not actually captain in 1987, does have a winners’ medal which does much to boost his standing. Or maybe the example of David Kirk, who did captain the All Blacks in 1987, better illustrates how much power the World Cup holds. In truth Kirk was a modest halfback yet despite only playing 17 tests, his standing is significant; his name conjures instant links with greatness.
Should McCaw emulate Kirk next year and raise the Webb Ellis trophy at Eden Park, then clearly he’s going to rank somewhere near the top, if not the top, of any list of great All Blacks.
But there could be a different achievement in the McCaw career that in time becomes more significant than a World Cup victory. He could make it cool once again to be an All Black for life. He may be the man that changes thinking within the younger generation of players and shows them it is both a real and rewarding goal to spend an entire professional career in New Zealand.
Off contract at the end of next year, popular wisdom has it that McCaw will bid farewell after the World Cup. He’ll be 30 by then, with 11 full seasons behind him. That will surely be enough? Surely the grind of Super Rugby – all those trips to South Africa; the long-haul flights and time away from home will break down his will to stay? Surely the lure of something different, something in Europe will be too much to resist?
He’ll have done all he can by 2011 anyway. Won’t he? At 30 his body will be close to packing up. Those thunderous hits will take him. His knees will ache, his shoulders will creak and with so many dings, he’ll not be the same player.
The thing about assumption is that is so often leads to mistakes; to embarrassment all round when the reality is some way removed from the expectation.
In the case of McCaw it’s best to assume nothing. Or if that’s a state that’s too hard, brace now for the contrary outcome – of McCaw surprising everyone by staying on beyond the World Cup.
“I’ll only be 30,” he says of that time. “It will come down again to whether I think I have more to offer, whether I think I can be better and whether I’m still enjoying it. I have thought about it a little bit. Whatever happens at the World Cup, you don’t want that to be the end. I am really enjoying playing here and at this stage I don’t see why I would change anything.
“But you never know. Things can change pretty quickly in this game. I have been in the role a while, someone might say it’s time for someone else. I haven’t given it a lot of thought.”
In a perfect world he’d put off making any decision until after the tournament. There would be a risk in that. The European clubs will come calling from the end of this year hoping to snare the big names by about March or April. And they will make an all-out assault on McCaw and other senior All Blacks. Which club in their right mind would not want the All Black captain? Money, as always, will be no problem – whatever it takes to get the biggest fish.
If McCaw waits until after the World Cup, budgets will have been eaten up, his opportunity to shift offshore may have to be delayed and then accepted on reduced terms.
Still, he’s ready to that risk. “I have to talk to the NZRU whether you can do that. Once I know that I can think about it a bit more.”
Maybe his desire to take that risk, to see an offshore deal as something he can ignore until the last minute, is the hardest evidence that sub-consciously, if nothing else, he sees himself staying in New Zealand beyond 2011.
Anyone who saw the way both Jerry Collins and Rodney So’oialo suddenly hit the wall, will hold concerns that McCaw could run the danger of tainting his glorious career by staying on too long. The human body is not reliable. Neither Collins nor So’oialo gave any sign they were in decline and then, bam, they were both yesterday’s men in the blink of an eye.
McCaw could suffer the same fate. That’s a genuine risk, but as an eternal optimist his mentality is entirely positive. He’s looked after himself astoundingly well over the years. His engine is in good shape, helped by his certainty that he doesn’t want his rugby adventure to end - whether in New Zealand or somewhere else, McCaw’s keen to go for as long as he can.
His team-mate Brad Thorn has shown it’s possible to keep the dream alive for longer than sceptics believe is possible, which is why McCaw’s right to preface his age with ‘only’.
Admittedly the role of tight forwards is less aerobic, but McCaw can’t have helped notice that as well as Thorn, both John Smit and Victor Matfield, men respectively three years and four years his senior, have consistently improved since they turned 30.
McCaw has the confidence to not see age as a barrier. His bigger concern is that others do. “Heading offshore hasn’t appealed because I have enjoyed it here,” he says.
“But it might be someone else’s decision [whether he stays in New Zealand]. Everyone wants to go on their terms. Without it being a big thing you can pick up a vibe [whether you are wanted or not].
“I am really enjoying the rugby this year. I am really excited about being back and I guess if that keeps going, then you want to keep going as long as you can and as long as the body holds together.
“You are a long time not playing. After the Tri Nations, I’ll understand a bit more. If I really enjoy it, I’ll know that I want more or maybe I’ll think it’s getting harder and harder.
“You have got to really want to be here. And you have got to really want to play for the All Blacks. It became really obvious to me after the last World Cup that I hadn’t had enough. I still felt like I could be a better player and the best environment is in New Zealand.”
The evolution of the game has helped keep his interest levels high. He’s had to re-invent himself this season. The turnover is no longer his signature due to the law interpretations. Instead we have seen McCaw become a more effective ball carrier, a support runner and link player. His tackling has been harder and he provides an element of continuity he didn’t use to.
All around him in the All Black squad there are new faces – young hopefuls he has to guide and lead. There is enough change, then, to build a little confidence that he might feel inclined to push on after the World Cup.
It’s also helped him that the New Zealand Rugby Union have been flexible in their contracting. Aware that there are perennial offers to leave, McCaw and other senior players have been granted sabbaticals and the right to determine their workloads in consultation with the various coaches.
That allowed McCaw to skip the first three weeks of this year’s Super 14 and it’s something he might repeat in 2011.
“I really enjoyed having an extra couple of weeks this year to get right. I ended up, perhaps how the team was going, playing 11 straight games. I was able to enjoy that because of that extra rest time.
“The end of the Tri Nations is the right time to have a chat about that. I need to have a chat with Todd [Crusaders coach Blackadder] about that then. It’s best to get it sorted before you go on the end of season tour.
“If taking two weeks off sets you up for the rest of the year then it’s a no-brainer.”
While his future has to be cleared up at some stage, the beauty of McCaw is that he parks issues and stays in the present. Others would be consumed by the weight of his forthcoming decision. Instead, his mind is focused on the Tri Nations as he knows failure to stay in the now will see all talk of his future rendered redundant – as in, without performance and victories in the coming months, he won’t really have a future.
That won’t happen on McCaw’s watch. Not only is he too vigilant, but he’s also sure he’s in command of a more than useful side.
Even with a host of regulars unavailable because of injury, McCaw took a look around when he arrived in camp in early June and liked what he saw.
There was a mix of experience and new faces and, most important of all, there was a memory still burning of the last time the All Blacks played; the 39-12 victory in Marseilles has taken on enormous importance. This is the game that will guide the All Blacks of 2010. It will be their tactical, technical and emotional template. There was a good vibe that night in the South of France and it stayed with the team through June.
The big lesson taken from last year was the need to respect the basics. The game in Marseilles was the only occasion in 2009 when the execution was faultless – the All Blacks mixing a solid kicking strategy with effective counter-attack.
It was a game plan six months ahead of its time - the subsequent change in law interpretations opening the way for the All Blacks to see their last performance as the beginning of a new era.
For McCaw there was a bit more to it; the victory in Marseilles restored a generic belief that he and his side were capable of excellence; not drifting or lagging the South Africans.
“Last year it was the South Africans that caused us the most problems,” says McCaw.
“They were hard to play against. When you look at the Bulls, they are similar. They don’t play much rugby but what they do, they do well. There is a lot of kicking but they know how to use the ball.
“This year it has changed a little bit. Kicking is still an important part of the game - building pressure, really. But there is a chance to play a bit as well. If you look at the Reds, they have thrown the ball around and run from everywhere.
“It’s about getting the balance right for our players, playing to our strengths. I look back to the Marseilles game last year and we got that right. You have to play what is best for you. You have to believe in what you are trying to do and that is the key.
‘We just didn't get things right. We didn’t get our set-piece right and that put us under pressure from the go - that was the learning we took out of last year.
“Regardless of the rules, we just didn't get our fundamentals right.”
If the All Blacks are to wrest back the Tri Nations title, they can only do so if the foundation is laid each test. The adherence to the basics was obvious throughout June. The All Blacks clearly wanted to prove they could walk before they could run and now they are going to have to show they have something extra. In some minds there lies doubt as to whether this All Black side has the range of skills, vision and depth to succeed. McCaw is not one of those.
“I keep thinking that this is a strong team. I look around and I see a hell of a lot of talented players. We have got to believe in that.
“The Tri Nations is tough. Playing each team three times is hard and we found that out last year when we didn’t quite get it right. The Africans have a lot of depth and the Australians have shown they have a bit of depth, too.”
McCaw is pumped at the thought of the Tri Nations – long may that be the case.
