‘The greatest All Black we’ve ever had’ – Richie McCaw retires

New Zealand legend calls time on a magnificent career

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Richie McCaw waves at a recent welcome parade for the World Cup winners in Christchurch. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:30am, 19 Nov 2015Updated: 10:40am, 21 Nov 2015

Retiring All Black skipper Richie McCaw is known by many names to Kiwi rugby fans – “Captain Fantastic”, “The Real McCaw”, “Richie McAwesome” – but team-mates simply call him GOAT: Greatest Of All Time.

Statistics back up the players' assessment – McCaw is rugby's most capped test player, three-time world player of the year and the only captain to win the World Cup twice.

After 15 years at the top, the 34-year-old bowed out on Thursday on an unprecedented 148 test caps – 111 matches as captain – with 131 won, two drawn and just 15 lost.

Richie McCaw holds the Webb Ellis Cup during a parade by the team through the central business district of Wellington. Photo: AFP

His decision, which was widely anticipated, came the day after the unexpected death of former All Blacks winger Jonah Lomu at the age of 40 had rocked the rugby-mad country.

“I’m going to be hanging up my boots, the end of my rugby days. My last game for the All Blacks and as a professional rugby player was the World Cup final a couple of weeks ago,” McCaw told a news conference on Thursday.

Richie McCaw celebrates winning the Bledisloe Cup at Eden Park in Auckland in 2014. Photo: AFP

“I sit here today with no regrets over what I have done as a rugby player. I think I played some of my best rugby over those last couple of weeks.”

“He's the greatest All Black we've ever had,” coach Steve Hansen said after McCaw led New Zealand to a dominant 34-17 win over Australia to claim back-to-back world titles at Twickenham last month.