Richie McCaw out for victory, but not revenge
The captain of the New Zealand All-Blacks, Richie McCaw, will have plenty of reasons to try and recapture the Tri Nations rugby tournament championship away from defending champions the South African Springboks.
But revenge isn’t one of them.
The All-Blacks fell three times last year to the green and gold to get stunned in the premier tournament for southern hemisphere rugby. The year before they’d managed to pull off wins in two of three games against the Springboks, including a 19 – 0 humiliation of the Springboks at home. But now McCaw wants to beat the Springboks and he’ll have home town advantage to do so, as the Kiwis will be playing on New Zealand soil twice out of three games.
"I guess there's a bit of memory about last year and the guys who were there are pretty keen to get stuck in again. It's been a while since we had a crack at them and we've had a while to think about it," McCaw said. But he cautioned heavily against becoming too fixated on the need to get even for last year’s defeats.
"We've just got to be careful we don't get too caught up in that. I've been looking forward to it for a while, and the reality is in the Tri-Nations with two home games to start we've got to win them if we're going to be in with a shot."
McCaw takes his 84th cap
McCaw will take his 84th cap when he steps onto the field on Saturday, and seems destined to one day reach the 100 mark. He’s hardly alone though, as the All-Blacks will boast one of the most experienced teams in history when they step onto Eden Park at Auckland on Saturday, with 671 caps amongst the starting XV.
McCaw managed to score two tries in last year’s incarnation of the tournament, including one against South Africa in their final, heartbreaking loss to the eventual champions. McCaw scored in the 78th minute to bring his team within striking distance of the Boks, but they managed to hold off the Kiwi charge and grind out a thrilling 32-29 win on New Zealand soil. So if any New Zealanders would have cause to want to redeem last year’s loss, it would be McCaw. But he’s keeping his eyes firmly focused on the task at hand, whether that means beating the Boks or the other team in the Tri Nations tournament, the Australian Wallabies.
Eden’s home soil gives them a good chance
But even if they don’t have last year’s game in mind, the stakes will still be quite high. McCaw put pressure on his team to win both games at home.
The other side story is these games serving as a preview for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, being played on New Zealand soil. The Springboks haven’t won a game at Eden Park in Auckland in 73 years, and a strong home performance is seen by many as a good precursor to winning the biggest tournament in rugby at home, something the Springboks managed in 1995. But even that’s not what McCaw is looking for.
"That's secondary," said McCaw. "It would be http://topics.skysports.com/nice/?section=rugby_union if that becomes the case, but it's not going to be the difference this week or next year. We do enjoy playing there and, hey, we'd love to keep that record going there and we certainly want to win on Saturday.
"But that's not the sole reason we want to do well. We want to do well because we want to beat the Springboks and win the Tri-Nations, and if it adds a bit to us down the track that will be good."
Tags: