Revealed: National party leader Judith Collins is a Richie McCaw fan

Judith Collins proudly displays her photo with Richie McCaw in her office. Photo / TVNZ

National party leader Judith Collins has been exposed for being a fan of All Blacks great Richie McCaw.

After a thorough investigation (flicking through Gemma McCaw's Instagram stories), the Herald can reveal that Collins appears to have a framed photo with the former All Blacks captain proudly displayed in her office.

The stunning revelation, which shows that Collins truly is one of parliament's biggest sports fans, came during an interview with the politician in last night's episode of TVNZ's Sunday, which the Herald can also confirm was watched by Richie himself.

In what looked like a lovely Sunday night in, Gemma shared a cute picture of her husband watching the interview after discovering something familiar chilling in the background.

"Just wondering if that's a framed pic of Rich with Judy on her shelf? Can anyone confirm," Gemma wrote on her Instagram story, which she punctuated with a crying-of-laughter emoji.

After posting a zoomed-in version of the photo and receiving feedback from her followers, McCaw then confirmed that it was in fact a photo of her hubby.

"Ok. So 100% of you have confirmed it is Rich in the frame," she wrote. "She's only human [crying-of-laughter emoji]."

Gemma McCaw's Instagram story part 1. Photo / Instagram/gemflynn

Gemma McCaw's Instagram story part 2. Photo / Instagram/gemflynn

Gemma McCaw's Instagram story part 3. Photo / Instagram/gemflynn

A Collins interview with Paul Henry from 2015 seems to back up Gemma's hypothesis.

"Well, do you know what Paul, having had the odd selfie with Richie McCaw, and a bit of a cuddle, you can never get too much of that, frankly," Collins said, revealing she has a similar admiration for Richie as former Prime Minister John Key, who famously had a 'bromance' with the All Black.

"[Key] adores Richie McCaw," she continued. "And actually, I think that's really quite sweet, and it's really nice ... [McCaw] is such a ... nice, humble, outstanding New Zealander, and I think that people just naturally warm to him, and the Prime Minister is just being his typical, honest self."

Collins' bombshell comes after she posted a photo of herself reading the Herald on Sunday's sport backpages earlier this month.

"My Sunday treat - a nice cup of tea and catching up on the sports news," she wrote on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

My Sunday treat - a nice cup of tea and catching up on the sports news.

A post shared by Hon Judith Collins (@judithcollinsmp) on Aug 1, 2020 at 5:44pm PDT