The physical punishment Richie McCaw took from South Africa in the 2015 semi-final
The 2015 Rugby World Cup was Richie McCaw’s last hurrah in his storied career as he led the All Blacks to historic back-to-back World Cup victories.
The All Blacks had to beat the Springboks in the semi-final to keep their hopes alive and they faced off against a vaunted South African pack that included Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger and Francois Louw in the back row.
There was no shortage of physicality as other Springbok forwards like a young Eben Etzebeth and enforcer Bismarck du Plessis brought fear in the tight five. One of the biggest hitters in international rugby was also on the bench, in Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts.
McCaw and his All Black pack had to rise up to the challenge to one of the most imposing South African forward packs in recent memory.
Richie McCaw: “I said it was going to be a huge step up in intensity and physicality, and it was. The win is pretty satisfying. I’m happy.”
— Rugby World (@Rugbyworldmag) October 24, 2015
The All Black captain got his side after a fast start after setting up Jerome Kaino for an early try in the corner, but as the Springboks accumulated penalty goals a tight tussle ensued.
McCaw had to take significant punishment at the ruck as the Bok pack tried to manhandle the All Black leader to prevent him from spoiling their ball.
At one point Du Plessis jumped on McCaw’s back and got him in a headlock while he was preventing Louw from pilfering the ball.
In one brilliant steal, McCaw snatched the ball from under the nose of No 8 Vermeulen who was too slow to start his clean out after Damian de Allende placed the ball.
The openside made a rock solid tackle on Adriaan Strauss, stopping the hard-running hooker dead in his tracks while bystander Etzebeth tried to remove McCaw from the tackle but couldn’t. The collapsed tackle ended in another turnover won for McCaw.
The Bok frustration become clear as the match wore on with prop Jannie du Plessis losing his cool at one point, flapping his arms in attempt to push him away before slamming into his back.
After the heroic 20-18 victory McCaw became embroiled in controversy after a supposed elbow to Francois Lous, sparking a media circus over whether he would be suspended for the World Cup final.
A bloodied Louw required 20 stitches to his forehead to fix up the two wounds but the Springbok flanker was unsure of how his injury occurred, stating: “I’m not sure, I think it was at the bottom of a ruck”.
If deemed deliberate, McCaw could have been charged with striking with the elbow which carried a two-week suspension at the time.
Could Richie McCaw be in trouble? https://t.co/1uMtdpiUNq pic.twitter.com/TmZMlVHSlH
— The42.ie Rugby (@rugby_ie) October 24, 2015
48 hours of English press obsessing over Richie McCaw’s elbow begins now.
— Toby Manhire (@toby_etc) October 24, 2015
Absolutely no way Richie McCaw misses a World Cup final for that. Maybe…JUST MAYBE…if he wasn’t Richie McCaw.
— Jonathan Bradley (@JBradleyBT) October 24, 2015
Richie McCaw would need to shoot someone on the pitch to get cited before a World Cup final #elbowgate
— Andrew Moon (@mrandrewmoon) October 24, 2015
Agreed. Head up, eyes on ball carrier. Clearly accidental https://t.co/W3PkEM5ke6
— Liam Napier (@liamnapiernz) October 24, 2015
In a column for Stuff in defence of the All Black captain, Kiwi writer Duncan Johnstone said that Louw was ‘accidentally clipped’ and called the media circus ‘insulting’.
“There are two things you can expect the moment the All Blacks step foot in Britain – the haka will be questioned and McCaw will be labelled a cheat,” he wrote.
“A look at the evidence shows McCaw’s full focus is on the ball carrier as he comes around the back of a ruck.
“Louw finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time to be accidentally clipped.
“To suggest McCaw would attack a defenceless player with his elbow is simply insulting.”
The often-vilified openside, who took his fair share of punishment from the opposition, escaped sanction and was free to play out his final test in the Rugby World Cup final against Australia.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments