Richie McCaw urges New Zealand to be patient
As New Zealand prepares to go into a four-week lockdown in a bid to contain the Covid-19 virus, former All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw has urged the nation to try to remain connected as individuals and families around the nation face up to a very different challenge.
Former loose forward McCaw, who played 148 tests and won two World Cups (the first, in 2011, while playing on a broken foot) is regarded as the best captain and one of the best and toughest players to have worn the black jersey.
He and his family are not without challenges themselves. His wife Gemma is a Black Sticks hockey player who is continuing to train for the Olympics in Tokyo without knowing when exactly they will be held. Overnight officials postponed the Games to no later than July next year.
Pay cuts are ‘inevitable’ for New Zealand’s top All Blacks:
McCaw is also an owner and director of a Christchurch-based helicopter business which will be affected by the lockdown and tourist drought as the world comes to terms with a rapidly spreading pandemic.
“You think of businesses, and I’m involved in a business which has challenges ahead, it’s about trying to work out what you can control,” McCaw told Sky TV’s Breakdown show last night.
“People can’t go to work and businesses have lost revenue… some of that is out of your control, but you can control your attitude around looking after your people and your family.
“Focusing on the things that are important and what you can have an influence over – whether it was playing rugby or in the context of life – that gives you something to focus on. It may be still tough to figure out how you’re going to navigate through it…
“But the other thing is you don’t want to do it on your own. Everyone – your neighbours, people all around the world – is in the same boat so connecting with them can be helpful. I know sometimes leadership can be lonely but it doesn’t have to be if you share it with people that are going through the same thing.”
The father of Charlotte, who turned one in December, added that sport in New Zealand and rugby in particular could be given a boost in popularity once the crisis is over, even if the bottom lines are badly affected.
“Every sport is in the same situation – you’re wondering what it’s going to look like once things turn around and what sort of damage is being done through obviously missing competitions. In some ways, rather than looking at what the problems might be now, [look at] what opportunities might open up and there might be some good things come out of it if you can deal with the financial hit.
“You hear sometimes that ‘oh, people get sick of seeing rugby or sport in general’, but it’s amazing when you haven’t got anything to watch how important it is to everyone’s lives from an entertainment point of view. I think from a rugby point of view in New Zealand, it’s shown how important it is to New Zealand.
“Once that opportunity to get back out there in whatever form it looks like, I think people will get excited to be back playing or back watching and in the long run that might be a positive for our game, remembering how important it is.”
McCaw added of Gemma’s predicament as she waits for more information on the Olympics: “It’s pretty tough on the girls, they’re right in the middle of their training and they’re training pretty damn hard.
“The way it’s looking now, it’s potentially not going to happen and there are a lot of things in the air – whether it’s in 12 months’ time and you’re still going to be involved… it’s a tough one to keep training like the Olympics could still be there when in the back of your mind knowing it may not be, it may be in 18 months.
“It does put it in perspective though – being fit and healthy and around your family is the most important thing and you can put aside those disappointments when you have that because many people don’t.”
The former Crusader said this year’s Super Rugby season, suspended and almost definitely cancelled due to the coronavirus, was shaping up as an extremely close one.
“I’ve really enjoyed the games I’ve watched this year,” he said. “The games I’ve seen have been even; I’ve seen the Blues get up in some games and they’ve shown that a bit of confidence can make a big difference. I was really excited to see what was going to happen – you couldn’t really pick who was going to be there at the end which bodes for a good competition and it’s a shame we’ve missed out on that.”
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
1 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
12 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
1 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
1 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
16 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
16 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
16 Go to comments