I see South Africa 's favourite kiwi King Richie is set to stage a comeback and play this weekend for Christchurch against University.
McCaw has been training with the Crusties so watch out for the Kiwi you love to hate coming to a game of Super XV rugby near you soon.
Super Mccheat to the rescue!
When ever his wee forward pack get dominated he lives on the ground typically offside to save the day.
So is he going to swoop in and try to claim a Super Rugby title he didn't earn or will he stay out of the side and just joing the AB's for the RC?
If he plays in the knock out stages of the Super 15, I think that is disgusting and hope Matt Todd goes overseas. It would be a major kick in the teeth to Todd to have to miss the games every player wants to be involved in for a guy that has sat out all year on his own accord just so he can say, "oh, but I need to get fit for the Rugby Championship!"
You dont need McCaw anymore. He is older now and this sabbatical to preserve a players longevity in the game is horse shit. Its an utter show of no confidence in the other players within the system. Players get old. Thats life. We all get old. Its time for a youngster to grab the reigns and carry on. Hopefully in one of those youngsters, a new McCaw will emerge. Not if they sitting behind a grandpa until he decides enough is enough. If I was a fetching flank(7) in NZL and on the brink, I would feel very under valued right now.
Maybe next year you kiwi's can freeze Dan Carter until the WC. Hell, why dont you freeze them until 2019 too!! See how they get on there and maybe try push until 2023!
Will be good to see him come back after his nice break and get injured and be out for a year. I dont wish death or harm on anyone but just injured enough that he packs the game in so the next crop of guys can prove their worth!
I tend to agree, viewed from Todd's perspective. But McCaw is in a sense doing what Noakes has always advocated....given his body a long rest. It will be interesting to see if that makes him better late in the RC.
Hahaha. Man I have to laugh at some of the comments from the fanboy brigade. Let's be honest, you okes are sweating bullets at the mere mention of Richie making his comeback at the most opportune and crucial time of the Super season. MAtt Todd is a solid player but Richie is better. Who here would really keep a world class player out of their team and choose a lesser player just because he's played longer this season? Lol, y'all be choking on your biltong if Goosen were suddenly fit to play but HM chose Morne or Lambie instead.
Resting the system or flushing the system, I suppose it means the same in the end...
There's no denying Richie is not as great a player as he once was but even if he is only operating at 75%, that's still 10% better than most of his competitors, not to mention his leadership qualities which are virtually unparalleled. Remember he won a RWC with a broken foot. The jury is still out on the "sabbatical" experiment. but anyone who leaves a 3 times IRB player of the year off their team when there is no justifiable excuse for his exclusion is a few boerewors short of a brie.
I agree with Mike from what we have seen wee macaaaaw was over the hill but as Moz correctly says the break may have done him good. For that matter the longer break Schalk has had, who is younger than Mcaaaw and always a far better player, may also have have been of benefit.
But how good was mcaaaw. Well in nz he is king ritchie.Of course any normal person would not have wee macaaw on a pedastal. Consider his taking leave to have a dalliance with a British Madame! Or his universal nickname as mccheat!!
Mike of course errs in rating him as a great loosie. Blown correctly he would be ineffectual.
Finally nuked kiwi you did not win the recent WC you burgled it.
Sorry to burst these bubbles but someone has to say what needs to be said.
Beeno standing firm against kiwi propaganda.
Not sure if he will (be allowed to) play in the playoffs. Isn't there a rule stating a player should play n number of S15 games before he can be considered for the playoffs?
I think the same happened to Schalk Brits when the Stormers used him in 2010 (I think)? Anyway the great player Sir Richie was / is...........LET HIM BRING IT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP WE WILL BE WAITING.
Lol. Much like 1995 where St Mandela (and Louis Luyt) was gifted the RWC for the greater good of SA and 2007 when Barnes saved your asses. Nah wee brain, SA don't even have ONE legitimate WC.
Not sure what all the hooha's about.
Richie was once a brilliant player ... but sadly the time has come for hime to be put out to pasture.
In trying to prolong his career for the fearful kiwis he may end up coming back only to find himself a meter or three to slow.
Off time has a horrible habit of exposing one as a hasbeen if left unchecked.
Unlike the kiwis ... we do not regard McCaw as a God. Just another geezer to be taking out into the woods and put down.
Clevermike
I am pretty sure Mccaw is a registered member of the squad, and the plan was 50/50 to include him towards the business end of the tournament. I dont think it is a case as some suggest of having played a certain amount of games, but rather being a registered player in the squad before a certain date.
Question for the half-wits like Baboon-ou and Sharktwat, how does someone "cheat" in rugby? I think I might have asked Baboon-ou this question before but he's certainly never answered it.
Before you start droning on about offside, playing the ball on the ground, hands-in-the ruck and other concepts that you've heard about but don't fully understand, please note that those offences get penalized on the rugby field so if that's your notion of "cheating" then a "cheat" quite clearly favours the other team so it's not really "cheating", more like allowing the other team to win. By that token, if McCaw is such a cheat, how come we lose to the All Blacks so often?
Aaaaaah … tampon boy!!!!
How you doing, gov???
Rooipoes, did you watch the game last year - The Boks vs the All Blacks.
Mccaw was lying on the ground on the All Blacks side with his face on the ground.
The referee turned his back, and Mccaw put his hand through the ruck and grabbed the ball and pulled it back onto the All Blacks side.
The referee turned around, and Mccaw put his face back on the ground.
The referee then blows his whistle for a knock on, and awards the All Blacks the scrum.
It is repeated infringments like intentionally lying on the ball, not clearing out of the opposition rucks quick enough, a stray boot in the ruck.
Open side flanks push the lboundaries of the law, but no one like Mccaw has ever got away with so many infringements on the game.
You usually have your head up the arse of any opposition team to South Africa, so it cant be expected for you to understand.
In NewZealand many local teams are also vocal about Mccaw except when he plays for the All Blacks.
When Mccaws forward pack loses, he spends more time offside than behind his own ruck.
Good grief, how stupid is this guy?
Sharktwat, I thought I'd explained why a general bleat about normal rugby infringemnets wouldn't be a satisfactory answer to how a player can "cheat" on the rugby field.
You seem to have changed your whining to say that it's now the ref who is cheating rather than McCaw but if you're still insisting that McCaw is cheating then please get someone with a double-digit IQ to explain my post to you and then try again.
Phew!
.
Rooipoes, you explained nothing, or at least not in a logical manner.
If a Boxer headbuts an opponent, or punches below the belt it is cheating- regardless if they get caught or penalized doing this.
No it is not the referee cheating if he does not see the headbutt.
A good cheat is one that does not get caught often, otherwise it would be a counterproductive exercise.
Anyway I don't want to waist much time responding to you, so that is all the time I am prepared to allocate to you.
"Anyway I don't want to waist much time responding to you, so that is all the time I am prepared to allocate to you."
Oh, I see. Well, I wouldn't want you to "waist" (sic) any more of your valuable time, Sharktwat, so run along then.
Just note that this is about the 10th time I've asked one of the McCaw squealers to explain how one can "cheat" on a rugby field and coincidentally this is about the 10th time that one of you has failed to answer the question but, instead, muttered something about refs and slunk away pretending he's answered the question.
i can understand why saffas dont want McCaw to play, just look at the dunedin test as a prime example where McCaw was a better attacker and defneder then louw, alberts and vermeulen combined, so i can more then understand why the Boks dont want to see McCaw, i mean three Bok loose forwards out worked, out gunned, out played, out muscled by one kiwi on the wporng side of 30, LMAO.
dont worry boys, McCaw will be gone after the next RWC when the All Blacks become the first to defend their RWC.
@polyboy,
i always liked pienaar too, and micheal jones was my fave AB when i was a wee lad, but the king became numero uno big time IMO.
wasnt alive to see pine tree, but he is great, his name is still a household iteam after all these years, but IMO McCaws is too and will be remembered for generations to come, i mean despite the fanboy reactions of his, i remember reading McCaw was more popular in japan and italy then anyone else in the rugby world, lomu was the last one to reach those heights.
the poll that would have been that said McCaw was a greater All Black then pinetree is not surprising, the demograph that would have made up those polls would no doubt have been made up of folks who have seen more of McCaw then they have of pinetree.
Looks like McCaw is leaving the decision up to Blackadder which is the right thing to do. Don't agree with him being in the playoffs and possibly getting a Super 15 championship to his name when he has been on holiday this season and the rest of the blokes have been putting their bodies on the line.
As for his legacy - what he has accomplished and the games he has been able to dominate at times in the modern era cannot be compared with what players in the past have done. The depth of talent in todays game is much greater than in the past and the players are bigger, faster, stronger and the systems in place both offensively and defensively a lot more advanced than what they were in the past so that it is like comparing apples and oranges. A case can be made that if the best players from the past had grown up in today's age with the benefits of nutrition and sports science that they would have still been the best but that is just conjecture. For my money no one has been as good, so consistently and relatively injury-free against the best like McCaw. He's one of a kind.
