The physical punishment Richie McCaw took from South Africa in the 2015 semi-final
The 2015 Rugby World Cup was Richie McCaw's last hurrah in his storied career as he led the All Blacks to historic back-to-back World Cup victories.
The All Blacks had to beat the Springboks in the semi-final to keep their hopes alive and they faced off against a vaunted South African pack that included Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger and Francois Louw in the back row.
There was no shortage of physicality as other Springbok forwards like a young Eben Etzebeth and enforcer Bismarck du Plessis brought fear in the tight five. One of the biggest hitters in international rugby was also on the bench, in Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts.
McCaw and his All Black pack had to rise up to the challenge to one of the most imposing South African forward packs in recent memory.
The All Black captain got his side after a fast start after setting up Jerome Kaino for an early try in the corner, but as the Springboks accumulated penalty goals a tight tussle ensued.
McCaw had to take significant punishment at the ruck as the Bok pack tried to manhandle the All Black leader to prevent him from spoiling their ball.
At one point Du Plessis jumped on McCaw's back and got him in a headlock while he was preventing Louw from pilfering the ball.
In one brilliant steal, McCaw snatched the ball from under the nose of No 8 Vermeulen who was too slow to start his clean out after Damian de Allende placed the ball.
The openside made a rock solid tackle on Adriaan Strauss, stopping the hard-running hooker dead in his tracks while bystander Etzebeth tried to remove McCaw from the tackle but couldn't. The collapsed tackle ended in another turnover won for McCaw.
The Bok frustration become clear as the match wore on with prop Jannie du Plessis losing his cool at one point, flapping his arms in attempt to push him away before slamming into his back.
After the heroic 20-18 victory McCaw became embroiled in controversy after a supposed elbow to Francois Lous, sparking a media circus over whether he would be suspended for the World Cup final.
A bloodied Louw required 20 stitches to his forehead to fix up the two wounds but the Springbok flanker was unsure of how his injury occurred, stating: "I'm not sure, I think it was at the bottom of a ruck".
If deemed deliberate, McCaw could have been charged with striking with the elbow which carried a two-week suspension at the time.
In a column for Stuff in defence of the All Black captain, Kiwi writer Duncan Johnstone said that Louw was 'accidentally clipped' and called the media circus 'insulting'.
"There are two things you can expect the moment the All Blacks step foot in Britain – the haka will be questioned and McCaw will be labelled a cheat," he wrote.
"A look at the evidence shows McCaw's full focus is on the ball carrier as he comes around the back of a ruck.
"Louw finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time to be accidentally clipped.
"To suggest McCaw would attack a defenceless player with his elbow is simply insulting."
The often-vilified openside, who took his fair share of punishment from the opposition, escaped sanction and was free to play out his final test in the Rugby World Cup final against Australia.
Latest Comments
No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson. And Eddie Jones.
Sometimes it doesn't work out so you have to go looking for another national coach who supports his country and believes in what he is doing. Like NZ replacing Ian Foster. And South Africa bringing Erasmus back in to over see Neinbar.
This is the real world. Not the fantasy oh you don't need passion for your country for international rugby. Ask a kiwi, or a south african or a frenchman.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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