1
Dan Carter reveals Richie McCaw's pre-match All Blacks test obsession
By Online Editors
Dan Carter has revealed fellow All Black great Richie McCaw's pre-match obsession during his remarkable 148-test career.
Carter and Scotland journalist Lee McKenzie interviewed McCaw in a live chat on Facebook and Instagram last night in a new series which kicked off last week by talking to Springboks great Bryan Habana.
In the latest episode the long-time friends and teammates talked about how McCaw made his mark as a young captain of the All Blacks, him being in awe of England's Martin Johnson and a certain pre-match tradition.
"I've never seen a man eat so much ice cream before. I'm struggling to think of a test match you played where you didn't have ice cream the night before a game," Carter said about McCaw.
"You're spot on," McCaw admitted. "The best man at my wedding, when he got up, the first thing he said was 'we're going to start the speech with Richie's first love'. And everyone thought 'where's he going here?' … and then he said 'ice cream'.
"I love my ice cream. I always found on a Friday night you'd earned it for the week. It got me ready to go."
So which flavour was the obvious follow-up question.
"I quite enjoy mint-choc chip. But with an apple crumble the night before a game a bit of vanilla used to be pretty perfect," McCaw added.
Carter said the All Blacks flanker and captain could get quite pent up if there was no ice cream available the night before a test.
"I did find it quite amusing when you'd absolutely tear off at the dietician or the hotel staff because there wasn't ice cream," Carter joked.
"It would completely ruin your preparation and as every professional athlete knows – preparation is the key. And that was a big part of Richie's preparation and you did not want to mess with that."
Part two of the McCaw interview will be released on Dan Carter's official Facebook page on Thursday. Next week he will chat with South African World Cup winning captain Siya Kolisi.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series
3
Scotland's Sione Tuipulotu admits anger at Australian rugby
4
Fissler Confidential: Willie le Roux rumours ignite after Bok star spo
5
Latest Comments
There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.
Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.
Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.
They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.
Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.
Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen
Go to commentsWas it? I just brought it up in some of my posts to rub it in that the AB last year nearly put 100 on a top 6N side lol
I agree to be honest. The biggest key to me that they might be jadded was none of them had mom performances, or even as good as their last three games.
Go to comments