All Blacks: McCaw back where it all began

Richie McCaw will tomorrow bid goodbye to the city where it all began. Photo / Getty

It's fitting that Richie McCaw's last significant rugby game in Christchurch will be played under the watchful stare of Steve Hansen - just as his first significant outing in the Garden City was.

It was playing for Otago Boys' High School First XV that changed McCaw's destiny and began the process of his allegiance switching to Canterbury.

"I can remember the first time I saw him play," says All Blacks head coach Hansen, who at the time was coaching with Canterbury and the Crusaders.

"Otago Boys' versus Rotorua Boys' at what was then Lancaster Park and I waked off and went into Tewy's [Canterbury chief executive Steve Tew] office and said 'however much he costs, just get him. This kid's special'.

"And he said, 'we can't, he's from Otago and we have an agreement we won't poach their players'. Thankfully the next day Otago broke that when they pinched Sam Harding from Christ's College and we got him up to Lincoln College.

"There was just something about him from day one where he had the courage to go into the dark places first and foremost as a player. He was a great thief over the ball and he had the ability to keep bouncing up no matter what happened."

No one knew it then, but that quirk of fate that saw Harding go South and McCaw head North, arguably changed the future for both the Highlanders and Crusaders.

McCaw's arrival at the Crusaders cemented their position as the country's most industrious, hard working and innovative franchise. McCaw came to define the club: he became the embodiment of all they stood for.

He became another reason why aspiring young players - no matter where they grew up - wanted to play for the Crusaders. Would Kieran Read, for example, have been willing to trade the Chiefs for the Crusaders as he did had it not been for the certainty he would serve his apprenticeship with McCaw?

Some may say his work for the Crusaders has never been quite what it has been for the All Blacks but that undersells what he has brought in terms of driving standards at training and instilling a winning mindset.

For the first decade of this century, the Crusaders set the standards on everything in New Zealand rugby. Christchurch was the epicentre of the game - the spiritual heartland where common sense, determination and team ethos collided to create the most damaging force in red and black.

But as much as McCaw has given, he would be the first to admit that he has taken an equal amount from Christchurch and the Crusaders.

A city renowned for producing resolute thinkers has helped mould McCaw into the leader he has become. His approach is measured, considered, always calm and typically middle of the road.

He's pragmatic and understated, qualities that once defined Christchurch before the tragic events of February 2011.

But there too man and city are mirror image - in the face of adversity both have shown resilience, character and bravery.

Typically, McCaw has not been keen to give anything away emotionally or get caught up in thinking about what it will mean to play his last test in Christchurch.

That should surprise no one. That's been his way from day one in the job - to focus only on the next task; the team and what needs to be done. He'd hate for tonight to be about him and for his focus to dwell in the wing place.

"I have said all along that it may well be [my last game in Christchurch] but for the rest of the season, starting tomorrow night, from a personal and team point of view we play well," he says.

"That's the bit that gets you a smile on your face afterwards. Tomorrow is exactly like that and that is about as far as I have thought. As you reflect after these games, you might have a bit of thought about that [nostalgia] but I just want to do it well from a personal and team point of view."

Stoic to the end - that's McCaw.