Magnificent Richie McCaw ready to put his body on the line again

Following Richie McCaw about during a game can prove difficult because eventually he becomes the eye of the storm.

McCaw in numbers is greater than everyone else. But it's more than that. The man even Dan Carter brands as "superman" needs to be tracked to be truly appreciated.

"He started out in 2001 and was player of the day and he could have been player of the day in the other 146 I think it is now? I've lost count," said his career long coach Steve Hansen.

Saturday at Twickenham is cap number 147. Victory number 130 would bring his win ratio up to 90 percent.

Arguably two of his most astonishing performances happened in Dublin.

Seven jersey

That All Black debut Hansen referred to came in November 2001. Before he even played Super Rugby he was the heir to Josh Kronfeld’s seven jersey. It seemed impossible that such a young openside would be better than Kronfeld.

Ireland rattled New Zealand that day before suffering Jonah Lomu's ire and losing 40-29.

McCaw was so clearly Kronfeld’s superior successor.

Flash on 11 years and he was, in so many facets, the reason the All Blacks refused to lose to Ireland. Nine carries and 16 tackles mattered but it was his ability to use the words of Todd Blackadder, his former Canterbury Crusaders captain, uttered under posts on another seemingly lost cause many moons beforehand, that mattered.

“We talked about there being a chance and we’d see if we were good enough to take it,” the victorious and badly battered captain told the glummest gallery that Sunday in November 2013.

Hansen remembers when McCaw first arrived in the Crusaders environment that he needed protection from his own ability to avoid being punctured into oblivion by many steel studs.

“ I was there as a coach at that time. He used to antagonise the shit of the older guys because at training he was in the opposition.

“We had to pull the older guys aside to lay off him a bit because they started to get hacked off every time he pinched the ball but at the same time we had to talk to him about letting them have it.

“When he first started he couldn’t catch a cold and he had four feet. His big thing he could do was pinch ball at the breakdown. Now he is a complete rugby player. He is a lineout forward, he can catch and pass and that’s a testament to his ability to want to be a better player every day.”

In those 146 Test matches he has been sin-binned only three times. The most recent time was for a trip as Argentina poured through black cracks in the opening match of this tournament. He returned to finish with 12 tackles, all of the car crash variety.

When he hobbled off against Georgia there was a concern that, like Paul O’Connell, this rugby god would crumble before our eyes.

It seemed to show a fallible side but his only ‘weakness’ was finally revealed when he took up the role of waterboy against Tonga.

Thoughts of his demise were obliterated by 13 tackles and peachy turnover against France.

“He’s been an exceptional player and it’s not only his ability to play the game it is his leadership now, he has become one of the great leaders in world rugby,” Hansen continued. “Particularly under pressure.

“We’ve been through some tough times and had success in those tough times. That breeds, I guess, a deep seated self-belief.

"He is massively important but we are very fortunate that if he goes down we got a player in Sam Cane maturing into a very good player in his own right. I'm happy with the depth we have got."

So, as McCaw followed Kronfeld, who crossed over with the great Michael Jones, Cane follows McCaw. But even among those men, McCaw is special.

But neither words nor statistics do him justice. Follow McCaw with your eyes and see the game bend to his will.