The English giant who shaped McCaw
A rare home loss to England and the influence of their captain Martin Johnson helped shape the leadership style of All Blacks great Richie McCaw.
McCaw would go on to play 149 matches for the All Blacks, captaining them a record 111 times, winning two World Cups along the way.
But it was on the eve of the 2003 tournament, when Johnson’s England outfit beat the All Blacks 15-13 in Wellington to foreshadow their only World Cup success, that McCaw would discover the power of captaincy.
‘‘Martin Johnson’s presence, it was just his body language, and I always wondered what has he done to do that?’’ McCaw told his former team-mate and good friend, Dan Carter, when asked about shaping his captaincy on Carter’s Lockdown Series.
‘‘Just the way he carried himself and the way he spoke to his players, it had a big influence on players around him.
‘‘I always thought if you could go someway to having that sort of influence, that’s what leadership is about.’’
McCaw would eventually exert that same sort of presence with the All Blacks though he admits it took him a fair while to understand the full dynamics of leadership on and off the field.
McCaw was handed the captaincy at the age of 25 and ‘‘hadn’t been around as long as some guys that had filled that role’’.
He thought he should just play well and in a team of such talent ‘‘this captaincy thing is pretty straight forward’’.
It wasn’t until the infamous 2007 World Cup quarterfinal loss to France in Cardiff that he realised he ‘‘didn’t have the answers’’ as a captain.
‘‘That really brought me down with a thud. I think that was the best thing that happened to me as a player and certainly as a captain.
‘‘It made me look at facing the things you aren’t very good at . . . dealing with those big moments and pressure. When things go astray that’s when you need a leader with conviction.’’
It also led to McCaw being less insular and more inclusive, realising he had Super Rugby captains and other natural leaders such as Carter in his troops that he should use.
‘‘People often say leadership can be lonely but it only is if you don’t let people around you contribute,’’ McCaw said.
‘‘Why wasn’t I allowing that team [of leaders] to take the team forward? When I realised that it became not such a lonely place.’’
McCaw says he still shakes his head and wonders about the 2006-07 period when, the World Cup disaster aside, the All Blacks still succeeded while he was finding his way as a captain.
‘‘We didn’t really have a grasp of what it [leadership] was. It was a bit of hit and hope.’’
Carter added: ‘‘In 06-07 we had such a skilful and talented team, hoping someone would pull a rabbit out of the hat and someone usually did.’’
But their run fell famously flat at the feet of a resilient French outfit.
‘‘I never wanted to feel helpless again,’’ McCaw said. ‘‘I swore we’d never go down without fighting and the captain sets the tone for what you are after.’’