That’ll do Richie, that’ll do.
Richie McCaw will play his 148th and last Test match for New Zealand today.
Being an All Black and a teak-tough legend, that final game happens to be the World Cup final.
New Zealand Herald crunched some numbers, this week, in an effort to explain just how stellar the Oamaru man’s career has been.
Like a 800-watt beacon, one statistic grabbed our attention.
Of the All Blacks’ 412 Test wins, since 1903, McCaw has been on the pitch for 130 of them. That is 32% of ALL of New Zealand’s Test wins.
Given the All Blacks history of near-invincibility, appearing in one-third of all the team’s Test wins, over a century of rugby, is plain incredible.
Here are some other stats that had us agog.
- Only four international teams have ever beaten McCaw – Australia (6), South Africa(4), England (2) and France (1).
- He has more test victories than five of the top 20 teams in the world – Namibia, Tonga, Uruguay, Canada and Georgia.
- 36 previous encounters with Australia. He has beaten the Wallabies 28 times and drew with them twice.
- McCaw has won a Test match at EVERY major rugby stadium on the planet.
- 21 major trophies with Canterbury, Crusaders and New Zealand. He also won four Grand Slams on European tours and helped New Zealand to a 3-0 Series win over the Lions.
- Voted World Rugby Player of the Year 3 times – 2006, 2009, 2010.
- 89% winning percentage in Tests. In the 27 Test matches has has missed, New Zealand had a 68% win percentage.
