McCaw to take leadership in stride
Richie McCaw does not expect to be overawed after being promoted to become New Zealand captain.
McCaw, who will lead the All Blacks for the first time on a permanent basis in the clash against Ireland this weekend, is continuing the role he first filled when he skippered his country in the absence of predecessor Tana Umaga at Lansdowne Road last November.
Having guided the Crusaders to this year’s Super 14 title, he knows what his leadership role entails.
“The big thing is to have an awareness of what other guys are contributing and sometimes you just need to be able to pool all that together and see how we are going,” said McCaw.
As for the challenge presented by All Blacks coach Graham Henry’s latest tweak to his game plan, which will see McCaw share duties in the loose with Marty Holah, the skipper also has an idea of how things might pan out.
During the Super 14, the Crusaders three times used McCaw and loose forward Johnny Leo’o as twin strikers from the sides of the scrum, and in the other games they were generally paired once the substitutions came into effect later in the match.
“It seemed to function pretty well as long as you set out your roles towards what you were trying to achieve,” said McCaw, who has been working with Holah to establish what each player should be doing, as the tendency when wearing number seven all your career is to instinctively chase the ball.
“When you’re not in that role you’ve got to step back a fraction, look and think. So that’s the toughest part but, if we get that right, we should hopefully be pretty effective.
“It’s more thinking before a set-piece starts, making yourself aware of what role you’re doing and you obviously still react to what you see but, hopefully with training, it will be all sorted.”
McCaw expects Ireland to be very competitive in the line-outs while also feeding off the inspirational play of centre Brian O’Driscoll.
In the November match against Ireland, McCaw felt the All Blacks were able to shut down a lot of Ireland’s options in the game, especially as they attempted to use fly-half Ronan O’Gara’s kicking game and at other times play a running game.
McCaw believes Ireland will have learnt from that experience and be better for it in Saturday’s Test at Waikato Stadium.
