McCaw focus exclusively on winning rugby: Read

Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read has spoken of the ruthless single-mindedness that drove the success of Richie McCaw as a captain and athlete.

Read revealed in his autobiography Straight Eight that, despite countless hours spent training and touring together, they were basically strangers outside the world of rugby.

“It was the ultimate professional relationship, a workplace friendship. I think back to the first time we roomed together, in Sydney with the Crusaders in my first year with the team, and he never once asked me a personal question about my life, family, interests — anything outside the team. It wasn’t that he was rude; that information was just super- fluous to him. He didn’t need it in his head when he had other things to think about.”

Read related the fact the two men had thousands of conversations but were always focused on how to improve the Crusaders or All Blacks. This ultimate form of compartmentalisation was what Read thought made McCaw successful.

“We toured with the All Blacks and Crusaders for nine years, played alongside each other in countless matches, drank endless coffees together and played a million hands of cards, but outside of the team, our relationship was largely non-existent.

“I respected that intensely. He wouldn’t have been able to do what he did if he didn’t have an off switch.”

McCaw’s single-mindedness also extended to his training sessions, where Read described McCaw as “a machine”. The two men shared similar conditioning routines, both being in the back row, and Read often got to see first hand the mental and physical strength of McCaw.

“If I could keep up with his shadow, I knew I was fit. His mindset, the way he could push himself to places no one could follow, was one of the most extraordinary things I witnessed.

“I’m naturally a hard worker, at least I like to think so, but to see what he could do was absolutely inspirational. I sometimes turned up for our training sessions more nervous than I would be for a game.

“As gruelling as those hours were, I knew I was in a privileged position to test myself against the fittest guy in the team, if not the sport.”

Read’s time as All Blacks skipper came to an end at the 2019 World Cup and his winning-percentage of 83 per cent, just like in those training sessions, finished just shy of the 88 per cent record the ultra-focused McCaw finished with.