The Man: Richie McCaw

He is the greatest rugby player of his generation — perhaps of all time.

He finally won that elusive World Cup in 2011, but has found a form resurgence in his mid-30s to enable one last tilt at the windmill. Marc Hinton on the man who’s ready to make history in this year’s Rugby World Cup in England.

IT WAS Uncle “Bigsy” who perhaps first recognised the qualities that would one day be apparent to not just a nation, but the entire rugby world. It was he, after all, who instructed a teenaged Richie McCaw to write down his goals, from national age-group sides all the way through to the Test arena, and then sign the document, “Great All Black”.