On 31 March 2001, he made his Super Rugby debut with the Crusaders, playing a few minutes in a losing effort against the Hurricanes. The following year he was selected in the New Zealand under-21 squad and debuted for Canterbury in the National Provincial Championship (NPC) against North Harbour. During that series, McCaw realised his All Blacks dream could be attainable. In 1999, McCaw was selected in the New Zealand under-19 squad (coached by Mark Shaw), which won the world championship in Wales. He received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his sporting achievements in April 2012. He achieved all but two papers for his Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree before deciding to pursue his rugby career instead. With Sam Harding moving south to study at the University of Otago, McCaw headed to Christchurch's Lincoln University to study agricultural science and pursue his rugby interests. However, he failed to make the New Zealand Secondary Schools Team, losing out to Sam Harding, Angus McDonald and Hale T-Pole. McCaw came to the attention of national selectors during a 5-all draw with Rotorua Boys' High School in the 1998 New Zealand secondary schools rugby final in Christchurch. In his last year at Otago Boys' High, McCaw was head boy, proxime accessit (runner up) to the dux and played in the school's 1st XV. He played rugby for the local Kurow rugby club as a youngster, but it was not until 1994, when he boarded at Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin, that he started to take the game seriously. McCaw started flying gliders with his grandfather J H 'Jim' McCaw, a Tempest pilot during World War II credited with shooting down 20 V1 missiles, when he was nine years old. He grew up on his parents' farm along with his sister Joanna. On New Year's Eve 1980, Richard Hugh McCaw was born in the nearby town of Oamaru. McCaw's father took over the family farm and his mother was a teacher at Kurow. McCaw's great-great-grandfather immigrated to New Zealand from the Scottish Borders in 1893, and settled in the Hakataramea Valley, Waimate District, South Canterbury. Richie McCaw boarded at the school from 1994 to 1998. After their elimination in the quarter-finals, his captaincy came under criticism, but he was retained and eventually led the team to consecutive Rugby World Cup titles in 20, becoming one of only 21 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions. In 2004 he was appointed captain of the All Blacks, whom he led at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. McCaw became a regular selection for New Zealand, only missing a few games due to recurring concussions. His debut for New Zealand was against Ireland, where he was awarded man-of-the-match. He made his debut in 2001 for the Crusaders, and was selected for the All Blacks' 2001 end-of-year tour, despite having played only eight minutes of Super 12 rugby. In addition to winning two world cups, the All Blacks won seven Tri-Nations titles, completed three successful Grand Slam tours and won the Bledisloe Cup eight times. During McCaw's career, Canterbury won the NPC (later Mitre10 Cup) five times, and the Crusaders won four Super Rugby titles. McCaw predominantly played in the openside flanker position for the New Zealand, Crusaders and Canterbury teams, but also played as a blindside flanker and no. McCaw has also equaled the record for most appearances at the Rugby World Cup with Jason Leonard. He was the most-capped player in rugby union history with 148 caps, having overtaken Brian O'Driscoll's record in 2015 and losing the record to Alun Wyn Jones in 2020. McCaw was the first All Black to reach 100 caps, and the first rugby union player to win 100 tests.
Richie is also the winner for New Zealand sportsman of the decade award, the highest sporting honor a sports individual can achieve in New Zealand. McCaw was awarded World Rugby player of the decade (2011–2020) in 2021. He has won the World Rugby player of the year award a joint record three times and was the most capped test rugby player of all time from August 2015 to October 2020. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups.
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Richard Hugh McCaw ONZ (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player.