….make the grade. Guess who and then check the team. For all those McCaw bashers he makes the list:

https://www.ruck.co.uk/highest-all-time-test-try-scorer-in-each-position-xv/3/

McCaw never scored a single try that involved any form of skill beating a man and let’s face it he never stood out as some powerhouse

It’s the biggest insult in rugby and I mean this sincerely thst McCaw can even be suggested as one of the best rugby players ever - he was a great leader and at best a solid player

The likes of Schalk, Juan Smith, Pocock, George Smith, Brussouw to name but some in his era were better players let alone the rest of time

Disagree….McCaw made many crucial contributions. As a fetcher he was right up there with the best.

Just watch his highlights reel there are very few golden moments

Was not the quickest, was not athletic, never had a great skill set, was hardly a turnover king, hardly the most physical around - he was a good to solid player - one of the best ever - not even close

But he had a rugby brain….just like Mostert. He was in the right place, doing the right thing.  

But here’s the killer argument Dave. You always cite Dud’s selection for team of the year as proving he is top class.

McCaw won World Player of the Year 3 times….hoist on your own petard.

I can understand not liking a player but not rating an all-time great like Richie McCaw is a bit silly . . . or maybe based on emotion.  An absolutely brilliant loose forward who could both fetch and carry . . . and an inspirational leader. What more could you want?

I know a lot of South Africans didn 't like legendary All Black captains like Sean Fitzpatrick and Richie McCaw but if you didn't rate them as players then you're allowing your emotions to blind your judgment.

No Rooi emotion has zero to do with it. From a pure rugby sense I don’t care where the great players come from

Never rated McCaw as a great never will. Yes great leader and a nuisance on the field but that does not make him a great rugby player

There are so many better rugby players in a pure rugby sense.

McCaw would not make my list of the best 100 players I have ever seen play the game.

If I was selecting my top 10 opensides, I’d have the likes of Schalk, George Smith, Pocock, Kolisi, Kwagga, v/d Vlier, O’Brien, Savea, Curry, Warburton, Hooper, Dusautoir, Kronfield, Tipuric, Betsen etc ahead of Richie

Kolisi ahead of McCaw…have to agree with (sic ) this has to be pure emotion.

Kollisi is just solid in my opinion, but not on the list of great Rugby players. Macaw was more then just a nuisance on the field, but a master Flank….I can say that now, but when he was still playing I did not much like him when he played us because he was so good and influential on the field….truly a great leader and player.

No emotion at all if it was I would not have Savea, Hooper etc on my list

Give me Kolisi over Richie anyday - better with ball in hand and more dominant tackler

For me the same applies to players like Martin Johnson, Jason Leonard, Tom Smith, Alwyn Jones, O’Connell etc - not nearly the best in their positions

Wow.......Dave that is a bit of a stretch to name Ko lisi as a better player than Richie.

Never ever.

Well you talk me though what Richie purely as a player, not leader blah, blah blah was better at than Siya?

As a player what made McCaw stand out

Being a great leader or a nuisance is not the measure of the playing ability of a player

I’m intrigued - I just don’t get the hype at all. There have been hundreds of better rugby players than McCaw

Same applies to Martin Johnson and Jason Leonard

World Player of the Year 3 times

LOL!

That tells me absolutely nothing about his strengths as a player - name them

Better still put up his highlights video and point out the actual highlights in that footage

Hardly the highlights of the best player to ever play the game - it’s utter bullshit

Hey, guess who posted this...

"Bullshit Kolisi has been very good and PSDT won world player of the year at 7

He has rediscovered that form this season

Both Kolisi and PSDT have been really good this season

Fact"

And I count at least another 4 occasions where you used the award and also the opinions of pundits as reasons for justifying player's ability.

Truly, the worst "solicitor" in all the land.

lol what a plonker.

Please tell me that you know Moz was setting a trap for you?

To Moz, sorry, I couldn't resist.

I despised Richie, like he's my least favourite player of all time. But even I can admit that he's a top 100 guy. Possibly top 20.

Kolisi over Richie. That's a noob opinion right there. I mean, damn...have you completely lost it?

lol...we are starting to understand why you're such a DDA fan.

Racist tell me what Richie was good at instead of banging on about him being in your top 20 that tells me fuck all

Richie on pure rugby ability would not even smell my top 20 loosies of all time

McCaw was brilliant on the deck when he needed to be….not a George Smith type….but if the opponent was threatening to make a game winning try McCaw was most likely to put a stop to it. A subtly influential player….kinda like Mostert who also does many things you simply miss Dave. Just like you miss all the turnover opportunities Dud Toit botches and all the toothless runs he makes.

You kinda miss most of it, I’m afraid….but one can’t accuse you of not being passionate.

It’s not the job of a blindside to effect turnovers especially one that is actually a lock - Moz you tell me I miss loads when you don’t even know this basic fact - do you see Eben, Lood or Mostert effecting turnovers

Ok so the best you have on McCaw is the odd turnover - well there is one certainty when it comes to Richie and that he was never renowned for being a turnover king.

This is my point how the fuck given your limited take on him as a player can he even be considered one of the best players ever, in fact many say he is the best player ever - it’s the biggest load of shit I have ever heard.

From a pure playing perspective he was at best a solid to good player, there was absolutely nothing great about him.

Useful enough on the ground, nothing special with ball in hand and solid enough defender. Not the most athletic or agile player. He was good to solid

He was a great leader, durable and a nuisance - does this make him one of the best players ever - no fucking way, not even close

Geez he is not even in the top 20 loosies ever - give me Smith, Schalk, Juan, Ardie, Skinstad, Zinzan, Read, Hooper, Warburton, Vermeulen, Joe v Niekerk, Aldritt etc any day

Interesting Comments.

Being a Crusader and AB supporter - I saw alot of McCaw.

Saffex is not far off the mark in many aspects when Richie is assessed as an individual player.

Where he rates really highly is - Leader / Knowing the rules better than most - some call it cheating / getting under the skin of the opposition / getting the referee to see things Richie's way / knowing how to win and in particular - knowing how to bet the Boks and of course being a total team player. .

Spot on Black & Red - if you gave a non rugby person McCaws highlights package and told them he was the best player ever - they would be very underwhelmed

And if you showed them DDA's HL package you'd put them to sleep in all of 30 seconds.

But DDA is rated as the best 12 in the game for the "unseen" brilliance he demonstrates while Richie can't be rated because much of what he did was unseen.

You have to laugh at the clown logic on display.

McCaw not only would play in the GOAT’s team …he would captain it,

No one has said DA is the best 12 or rugby player ever, he is certainly one of the best 12’s in modern test rugby and that’s a fact

Any rugby follower who selects McCaw in their GOAT side is completely rugby ignorant for he is not even close to being the best openside ever

Smith, Hooper, Pocock, Schalk, O’Brien, Warburton, Brussouw, Kolisi, Dusseltou, Betsen, Kwagga, Savea, vd Vlier etc are all better rugby players

Not one of those players is better than Richie McCaw. 

Who is Dusseltou? Do you mean Thierry Dusatoir?

Michael Jones and Fergus Slattery were your best shots at an opensider in Richie McCaw's class but you missed them.

Edit: George Smith is in that class and you did get him but not one of your other nominations is even close. Heinrich Brussow might have been in that league but the useless Springbok selectors ensured he didn't have a test career to compete.

Rooi what was good about McCaw as a player - what made him a great rugby player

Please explain

Saffex, his skill set, his work rate and his inspirational leadership.

Skill set? But he was not the most athletic, offered nothing much with ball in hand, was hardly the turnover king, not a linking openside, was a solid defender at best

Yes great leader but that does not define ability

I seriously don’t get it. He was good to solid purely from a playing perspective so how he can be mentioned as the best player ever is to me a discredit to rugby

Sorry have to disagree on this one

" But he was not the most athletic, offered nothing much with ball in hand, was hardly the turnover king, not a linking openside, was a solid defender at best"

He was deceptively fast. was a great ball carrier, made more turnovers than anyone I can remember and linked brilliantly with his backs, maybe his greatest attribute.

You clearly have an issue with Richie. It detracts from your credibility which is normally very good . . . . as does your obsession with Damian de Allende being some kind of world star when pretty much everyone else accepts he's average at best.

Just watched a few of Richie’s highlights videos to refresh my memory and boy oh boy there are literally no highlights

He was at best good to solid, nothing great about him at all. I have no issue with Richie at all, he was a good leader and always came across really well. My take is on his ability as a player - there was simply nothing special about him.

Obsession with de Allende, what bullshit - why would I be obsessed with him, Im just stating the facts - he has made numerous world sides of the year, has always been Rassie’s go to at 12, despite the likes of Esterhuizen, Serfontein and JVR challenging.

I appreciate that shinning at centre in modern test rugby is a very hard art, it’s the very reason we see a lack of consistency with coaches sticking to the same centres for prolonged periods of time other than Rassie with de Allende and Am. I appreciate that much of 12 play happens in traffic, to product of structured defences - de Allende’s strength is his brute strength. There is nothing flashy about him but that applies to all the test 12’s out there today - they are all built like hookers

I appreciate his role, whereas the majority want to see the flashy, flashy clearly is not the model in modern test matches

I’d love a player the break that mould and prove this theory wrong - it’s why I’d love to see if Willemse is the player to do that. If dancing feet coupled with a fair amount of physicality is the way forward at 12 then Willemse is the answer

But I suspect his model would be short lived - but it would be great for rugby if I was wrong