All Blacks flush with post-Richie pickings, says Pocock

HE won’t be bumping bodies with old adversary Richie McCaw in next week’s Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup opener, but Wallabies dynamo David Pocock is still bracing for a similarly torrid backrow battle with the All Blacks.

McCaw retired after New Zealand’s World Cup final win over Australia last year, ending a 148-cap career, arguably the greatest in rugby history.

The champion openside flanker was an almighty pest to opposing sides with his pilfering ability at the breakdown and had plenty of massive tussles in that area with Pocock.

The two men clashed in 16 Tests, with New Zealand winning 12. In some of their early clashes, Pocock came off the bench behind George Smith, but significantly both men invariably played out the entire game in the Tests they started against each other.

“He was a feature for as long as I can remember, watching and playing, so certainly it’s a different (New Zealand) back-row combination there,” Pocock said yesterday.

“But from what we’ve seen during Super Rugby and the June Tests, there’s certainly no shortage of talent in that area for the New Zealand team.”

Pocock acknowledged All Blacks coach Steve Hansen had a difficult decision to make between McCaw’s long-time heir apparent Sam Cane and Ardie Savea, a standout in the Hurricanes’ charge to the Super Rugby title.

“They are both very talented,” Pocock said.

With Pocock on a sabbatical next year, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said there was no long-term plan to permanently stick with the “Pooper’’ back-row formation containing two openside flyers.