Rugby: Stir crazy McCaw ready for action

Richie McCaw has been strangely inactive as the Super Rugby season bleeds into the international campaign. Photo / Getty Images.

By the time the Samoa test rolls around next month, Richie McCaw will be forgiven for feeling a little stir crazy.

The All Blacks captain, never one to miss a match when fully fit, has been strangely inactive as the Super Rugby season bleeds into the international campaign.

This time of year is typically busy for McCaw. First, he drags the Crusaders as far as he can toward another title, then he turns his attention to crafting another impeccable season with the All Blacks.

But not in 2015. For only the second time in his 15-year career with the Crusaders, McCaw has been left watching the Super Rugby playoffs as an interested, if envious, viewer.

It's hardly how he planned his June - running shuttles in a vacant stadium holds only so much allure - but McCaw insisted it was simple to switch his focus away from the disappointment in red-and-black.

"When the team watched the [Super Rugby qualifier] last Saturday night, it was a little bit funny," he said. "You'd quite like to be out there but, when you're in this camp, you sort of forget about Super Rugby and you get focused on this.

"We'll sit back and watch the games over the weekend and it's always the way - you wish you were out there. But it wasn't to be, so you move onto your next thing pretty quick. And right now, after a week here, it's all about being ready for the test season. That's the thing we're thinking about."

McCaw has certainly had plenty of time to think about the next objective. His last game for the Crusaders was on June 13 and with every high-stakes match he experiences only through a television, McCaw's feet grow itchier.

So it's understandable for the flanker to be raising his hand high in a bid for selection against Samoa. And it's equally logically for Steve Hansen to grant that request without thinking twice.

After all, McCaw will have endured 25 days between runs when the All Blacks take the field in Apia - ample rest for the 34-year-old. Hansen was unequivocal when quizzed whether he would need another captain for the first test of the year and, if McCaw was less explicit about his role, there is no reason the skipper won't be involved.

"We'll find that out next week, but I haven't spoken to the coaches," McCaw said. "I haven't played too much rugby for a couple of weeks so hopefully I get the boots on and have a run, whether it's starting or not."

Unless disaster strikes, it will surely be starting, and only a similar calamity will prevent McCaw from taking the No7 jersey for the majority of the All Blacks' outings this year.

Because with only five tests before the World Cup, there is hardly an abundant amount of room for experimentation, no matter how well Sam Cane performed in Super Rugby this season.

So while an idle McCaw may currently be at a loss on how to spend all his free time, he will lay dormant for only so long. And as he's shown this week, outlasting many younger men in the All Blacks' fitness testing, McCaw looks ready to erupt come July 8.

"Considering the amount of rugby I've been able to play, I feel pretty good," he said.

"There's always a wee bit of room for improvement and we've got time to be able to do that as the season moves on, so we get really sharp. But for where we are at this point of the year, it's pretty good."