All Blacks: Kieran can wait to be next captain

Kieran Read is clearly a long-term All Black captain-in-waiting but is happy to play a supporting role for as long as Richie McCaw has the job. Photo / Getty Images

Despite being the heir apparent to McCaw, Read is happy to wait, writes Gregor Paul.

The best measure of Kieran Read's character and readiness to be the next All Blacks captain is the selflessness he has shown in sacrificing his own ambitions and buying into the ethos of team first.

Read, despite Duane Vermeulen's nomination as Player of the Year, remains the best No8 in world rugby. In the past two months, he has played as well as he did last year, which was sensationally good.

His ball skills are freakish, his instincts frighteningly accurate and his love of collisions plain for all to see.

Read is like Aaron Smith in that there's no New Zealand player in his position remotely close to him in impact and ability.

The All Blacks simply can't be the same team without him and Read is probably the most influential player in world rugby.

He's also a natural leader. He's happiest when he's captain of any team. Responsibility sits so easily with him and, as he showed last year, he's at his best when he's given it - properly given it, that is - and asked to captain the All Blacks.

He did it throughout the June series when Richie McCaw was on sabbatical and then again against South Africa, Argentina and Australia when the skipper was injured.

It gave Read a taste and he loved it. Being captain felt right - so good that he signed a four-year contract last year, driven primarily by the prospect that, in time, the job will be his.

"I guess initially the World Cup next year was it," says Read on how contract negotiations began last year. "The World Cup next year was the bit I wanted to get to. That got put in front of me and then I started to think about what I wanted to do [longer term] and I had a taste of the captaincy.

"The potential to lead this team on a full-time basis had a bit of sway. Being at home was a pretty big benefit and then there was a chance to play the Lions [in 2017]. It would be awesome to lead your country in a series against the Lions."

Read is itching to be All Black captain and knows the job will be his when McCaw finally decides to pack it in.

It will be Read's because he is, by a country mile, the only realistic candidate and has the potential to be a supremely good captain. Yet he must wait.

That's never easy. History is full of heirs apparent who could not be patient, who couldn't work with their leader while they waited for their time to come.

Read couldn't be more committed to the cause. He's ready to step out of McCaw's shadow and stamp his mark as captain. He's ready but he's not agitating. He's ready, but each day he throws himself into his role as McCaw's right-hand man.

Those two are inseparable at training - talking, confiding and guiding all those around them. It's a happy and genuine alliance and, as McCaw himself acknowledged, much of his strength as captain is derived by his trust and faith in the other leaders - especially Read.

"I know my spot and I would love to be leading this team and it would be a great honour," says Read. "But when you have the best player in the world - the best All Black ever, the best captain ever - what it comes down to is me doing my bit for the team.

"We both love playing and leading to our best level and, generally, if we do, we are giving the chance for the All Blacks to win. I love being captain and I get a good kick out of it.

"There's extra motivation, I think, if you are captain. But hopefully that doesn't change my game too much. I still lead in the same way when Rick is on the field.

"I still try to do my bit. I guess I become more of a voice and he can worry more about the technical stuff. We complement each other well, I think."

The two are close and work easily and effectively together and, while they have similarities, there are also pronounced differences. Read is more vocal and perhaps less removed from his team-mates.

McCaw, probably because of his age and aura and not through any deliberate means, can be an intimidating figure to the younger, newer players.

Read is closer to the rank and file - something which may change when he becomes captain. It doesn't have to because, as he says, "we are probably a bit different, certainly in our approach".

Where Read and McCaw are almost one and the same person, it's in their desire to turn this All Blacks team into the most dominant in history. Read is just as driven as McCaw.

"You get so much out of it," he says. "It is not just playing a game of rugby. There's so much at stake for what this team means to so many people. The buzz you get out of it every time is huge. For me, it's pretty easy to get up for it.

"We want to continually be up the top. You want to say this week is important because a game you could potentially lose is when those great teams don't. But, bigger picture, next year becomes really important in terms of the standing of this team."