'He was the best there's been': Richie McCaw rates the Wallabies' openside flankers he played against

Former All Blacks captain and openside flanker Richie McCaw has opened up on the Australian opposites he faced during his storied career in Bledisloe battles.

The 148-Test veteran faced the Wallabies at the peak of their powers in the early stage of his career, coming up against the likes of George Smith at a time when they held the Bledisloe Cup.

After his debut in 2001 on the end of year tour, McCaw was a part of the 2002 All Blacks side that lost to the Wallabies on a late penalty goal by Matt Burke which levelled the series 1-all.

As his career moved on, McCaw faced a number of opensides including Phil Waugh, Michael Hooper and David Pocock.

“You got to play against them fairly regularly and absolutely understood what you were up against,” McCaw told The All Blacks podcast.

“A guy like a George Smith, I first played, I think it was U19s, and I didn’t know he was, but I remember thinking after the game ‘Man, that guy knows what he’s doing’.

“And then it was that next year, he was playing for the Brumbies and played against the British & Irish Lions, a year later. He was a smart footballer, like he knew where to be and how to have an impact fairly regularly. And you had to be aware of what he could do. We had some good battles over the years, for a long time with him.

“Then there was this Phil Waugh who was a slightly different player, but more confrontational. But, again, you knew what you’re going to get there.If you were a bit slow to the first phase break down, or whatever, they’d get in there and disrupt it. So you’d be pretty aware of that.”

McCaw had high praise for David Pocock who debuted in 2008 and played either at No 7 or No 8 throughout the rest of his career.

He said Pocock was “the best there’s been” over the ball at the breakdown and “impossible to move”.

“Then the latter years, David Pocock was, he was the best there’s been, probably still has been, able to contest the ball on the ground,” McCaw said.

“And if you gave him even just a split second to get in there, he was almost impossible to move.

“And we did spend a bit of time on how do you limit his his ability to influence those sort of things? And to answer your question, you certainly knew who you were up against, and had to.

“But you didn’t want to get so focused on opposition player because if your whole team’s on top, you know, it limits their influence like that.

“But there’s a few little things that you had to just be aware of that, they can make the day, make your team’s day, a lot harder.”