Richie McCaw Discards Talk of First Defeat For New Zealand Against Ireland

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at Internationaled.org

Published: November 19, 2010

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After a Jonah Lomu inspired comeback guided the All Blacks to its 13th victory over Ireland in November 2001, then New Zealand coach John Mitchell commented, “That was a great stepping stone in a lot of the boys’ careers.”

Mitchell’s “boys” (New Zealand handed debuts to 11 players between the first two tests of the 2001 Tour against Ireland A and Ireland) came from 21-7 down to dash Ireland’s hopes of a first win. One of the two players making their debut against Ireland that day was Richie McCaw.

Now as captain, he faces another milestone in his career against Ireland as he, along with Mils Muliaina, will become the most capped All Black players of all time with 93 test caps on Saturday.

“I remember a bit,” said McCaw of his first cap. “I hadn't played much rugby before going on that Tour. I wanted to make sure and prove that I deserved to be there. It was a pretty awesome experience to run out for the first time in a test match, and at a place like Lansdowne Road was pretty special. So I’ve got pretty good memories of it,” says the man of the match from that day.

The current crop of All Blacks boasts Dan Carter, McCaw and Sonny-Bill Williams, whose debut last incredible performance in his second test against Scotland catapulted him into a legend in the making. But the ‘01 team was far from its distant poorer cousin with the likes of Jonah Lomu, Andrew Mehrtens and Anton Oliver (as captain) pulling the strings.

“I thought geez, this is a horrible way to start test rugby,” as the All Blacks fell 14 points behind back in 2001. “I remember it was the first time I got to play with Jonah (Lomu) and some of those guys – that was pretty special in itself.

“You can stand there in awe or just get on with it. I was pretty nervous, but once you run out on the field you either get into it or freeze up and I did every at...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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