Richie McCaw has revealed the one time he denied his former All Blacks teammate Dan Carter the chance at breaking a world record.
In a video interview on Carter's Facebook page, the former All Blacks captain discussed a time during a match where he inadvertently took away a chance forCarter to eclipse former England first-five Jonny Wilkinson's all-time record for the most test points scored.
"I only found out that out quite a bit later," McCaw told journalist Lee McKenzie when asked about the incident. "I was surprised DC didn't actually tell me he was getting close.
"First of all, I've got to say it's always lucky to have a guy like DC. When you're a captain and you've got a No 10 that can kick goals like that and run the game, it sort of makes your job pretty easy.
"There's always sometimes the easy ones where you've got to take a shot at goal and then there's the ones where you're not sure. So I would always say to DC 'what you reckon', and I don't think there was ever once where he said 'na'; he always said 'yeah, I'm taking it'.
"The coaches always said 'you're too conservative, you always took the three points - even when you had them on the ropes'.
"But apparently this one time, which I sort of didn't click because it didn't happen very often, it cost him a chance of getting the world record."
Richie McCaw and Dan Carter. Photo / Photosport
Jonny Wilkinson previously held the record for most test points scored ever at 1246, which Carter would later surpass despite being made to wait by his teammate.
"So yeah, sorry about that mate," McCaw said to Carter jokingly.
"You got there in the end though. I was sort of drawing it out a bit longer to make you on edge a bit longer."
Carter, who finished his All Blacks career with 1598 test points, replied in jest saying he was "distraught".
"It became a joke that when he would actually ask 'do you want a shot at the post or should we kick to the corner' and every time I would say 'we will have a shot'. And I felt greedy when it came to the amount of points that I was scoring.
"Then I finally worked my way up to try and beat Jonny Wilkinson's record – an absolute legend of the game. The big moment for me, I was looking for a bit of eye contact where I would yell 'yeah I'd take the shot'. [But] boom he didn't even ask me, my one moment. I was distraught."
Teammates, allies, and brothers in arms. Lee & I chat with the great Richie McCaw in two parts. This is part one. Part two will come on Thursday. Enjoy.
