Former New Zealand Rugby Chief Government Steve Tew has detailed the story of how all-time nice All Black Richie McCaw ended up at Canterbury.
The 149 Take a look at legend and two-time Rugby World Cup winner was enjoying rugby for the Otago Boys 1st XV on the time when future All Black coach Steve Hansen turned enamoured with him.
On the time Hansen was concerned with expertise identification with Canterbury and Steve Tew was the CEO of the provincial union.
But an agreement between the two traditional heavyweights of the South Island was a potential road block for signing the young openside.
“Steve [Hansen] was accountable for expertise ID and he’d recognized this child down at Otago Boys,” Former NZR Chief Steve Tew instructed Between Two Beers podcast.
“He reckoned he was going to be pretty much as good as anyone he’d seen.
“He got here into my workplace and there was a quadranguler event at Lancaster Park, our workplace was simply out the again, he stated ‘this child McCaw’, I stated ‘Steve, you recognize’.
“As a result of we had an settlement with Otago and the Highlanders that we wouldn’t poach one another’s gamers. As a result of we wanted them. If we have been going to get gamers into the South Island, they needed to come from someplace else.
“No level beating the crap out of one another, so we had this settlement, I stated ‘you recognize we will’t try this’, and he swore away.”
Not taking no for a solution, Hansen dug in and did his analysis, uncovering that Otago had signed one among Canterbury’s younger gamers and a rival to McCaw in the identical place.
“He’s again about three hours later, he stated ‘you recognize they’ve pinched quantity seven Sam Harding’, I stated ‘who’ve?’ and he stated ‘Otago have pinched Sam Harding, now we will go get McCaw’.
“So true sufficient that they had pinched Sam Harding, Sam was really forward of Richie on the time, he was getting begins in age grade groups and no matter. So we talked to Richie, acquired him as much as Lincoln, met the Chancellor.
“Apparently sufficient he acquired a kick within the jaw in one of many first membership video games and ended up with a extremely badly fractured jaw. His mum and pa got here up and stayed for a couple of days to take care of him, he didn’t play a lot footy in that first three to 4 months.”
Tew explains that it didn’t lengthy to grasp McCaw’s character and drive was ‘particular’ however he stated the decision to signal him was left to the ‘specialists’, legendary coaches Wayne Smith, Robbie Deans and Steve.
“I trusted folks like Wayne [Smith] and Steve and Robbie [Deans] to know what they do. They have been the specialists. I might have an opinion about props however that will be about it actually,” Tew stated.
“You recognize as quickly as you met him he was a particular human. Quiet, very unassuming. Richie’s nonetheless not essentially the most effusive particular person whenever you first meet him, he takes time to heat up. That’s the character of the person, however very clever very deep thinker.
“The factor I recount most fondly about Richie is after we’ve had troublesome conversations with gamers in negotiating collective agreements or no matter, he cares about everyone within the sport, he doesn’t simply care in regards to the group he’s representing instantly within the All Blacks.
“He was anxious in regards to the All Blacks Sevens, he was anxious in regards to the ladies’s, he was anxious about what’s happening in provincial. That’s why you see him nonetheless concerned now.”
