Rugby: Endurance comes ahead of enjoyment for McCaw

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw won't enjoy the World Cup unless his team are successful. Photo / Jason Oxenham

World Cups can be more about enduring than enjoying - a feeling with which All Black captain Richie McCaw is more than familiar.

Having last night jetted out of New Zealand for what will likely be a final farewell in black, McCaw was preparing for an influx of emotions in the next six weeks. He's excited by the challenge, certainly, and relishing the chance to once again perform on rugby's biggest arena.

But enjoyment? That's a sentiment which will remain on the sidelines until, he hopes, McCaw becomes part of the first team to retain the Webb Ellis Cup.

Having experienced the depths of despair in 2007 and the extreme elation of 2011, McCaw remembers the tournaments sharing a number of similarities. The weight of expectation was all-encompassing and, while that's a burden every All Black carries, the load is always magnified for the captain.

So even if the achievements of four years ago lessened some of that load, McCaw was hardly expecting his time in the United Kingdom to be akin to a spring getaway.

"You don't walk around with a big grin on your face and say, 'this is pretty cool'," he said before the team left for London. "I always say that playing sometimes isn't all that enjoyable but that feeling afterwards, if you've put a good performance together, that's what you do it for.

"[2011] was pretty hard work but you take enjoyment out of doing the job right and working hard. At the end of it, if you've done what you set out to do, that's where you get the satisfaction from and have a grin on your face.

"I enjoyed [2011] afterwards - and that's pretty much what I'd like to repeat."

The lack of pleasure he derives from playing is something that may surprise, given the length and scope of McCaw's illustrious career, but that's not to suggest the 34-year-old is repeatedly inflicting upon himself 80 minutes of drudgery. It's simply, as a competitor, stepping between the lines means the time for merriment is over.

"When I say I don't enjoy it, I love the challenge of going up against a team that's trying to get into you and you want to get into them," McCaw said.

"If you didn't like that then you wouldn't be out there.

"But it gets tough and, at times, you've got to find something to dig in and make a difference, to get to the next breakdown. That's the bit as a competitor that I love. You test yourself in the toughest environ-ments and that's where you want to be.

"I think at a World Cup, if you didn't want to be under the pump, where it all comes down to what you do in the next game, you're doing the wrong thing."

Preparing for his fourth tournament, the anticipation of the intense stakes is what keeps McCaw going.

"I've had some good experiences and some not-so-good ones," he said.

"The All Blacks haven't won it out of New Zealand and that's something that, at some stage, someone will do. So we've got an opportunity - that's the way we're looking at it. It's a reason why this team can do something special."