All Blacks and Crusaders captain Richie McCaw will sit out the majority of the 2013 Super Rugby season, it has been confirmed.
New Zealand's 2011 World Cup-winning skipper will take a six-month sabbatical aimed at guaranteeing his fitness for the 2015 World Cup in England.
The move means the 31-year-old flank will lead the All Blacks on this year's November tour to Europe, but will miss the three-Test series against France next June and will not play for the Crusaders until July.
McCaw's contract with the NZRU has a clause for a sabbatical similar to that of fly-half Dan Carter's stint at Perpignan in 2008, but the veteran leader is now set to use the period to rest rather than chase Euros overseas.
Crusaders boss Hamish Riach said the Super Rugby side are happy to let McCaw take a break.
Kieran Read will lead Crusaders next year, as he did during McCaw's injury-enforced absence this year.
"It is definitely going to happen," Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder told the Sunday Star-Times.
"Richie is going to take a sabbatical. He will probably be available after June. He won't be available for the Tests or Super Rugby, so he's going to get a good break. We've worked this through with all parties and I fully support it.
"He had it written into his contract and he's elected to take it. He's going to see the season out with the All Blacks, then have a break. It will freshen him up and he'll come back and be good for the next couple of years."
"He's probably going to head overseas and have a bit of a holiday, have a break and get away from the game," Blackadder added.
"Super Rugby is now an eight-month programme. It's a lot bigger than it used to be. The succession plan is [Read]. He did a fantastic job this year."
Comments
whizz52 says...
Trinats2 ...clearly Ritchie knows the current rules and plays to the ref. Ritchie is the best so I will continue to enjoy the master at work as he deals to 2nd rate Aussies etc...
Posted 09:21 23rd September 2012
dangerous says...
11 years playing rugby at the highest level in a highly attritional position. He certainly deserves a rest. Come believe he is still coming back for more. He is a machine.
Posted 09:08 23rd September 2012
FISH says...
headline should have been: McCheat opts for holiday retreat
Posted 07:53 23rd September 2012
cuw3100 says...
Just hope the powers that be will not make it a Super 16 or 17 or 18, please. As it is the season is too long and boring and one dimensional.
The Super 12 was great because the creame of talent from the 3 countries played over a shorter program. Those matches were very competitive and intersting because the best were playing.
Now a lot of franchises dont have player depth and the result is an uneven table; half the sides with a lot of points and the other half having very little, which shows the gap between good and the rest.
A further by product of this extended schedule is injuries to many good players. All 3 countries have extended lists of injured / unavailable players. OZ and SA are worse off from this because their backups are not that good, unlike for MIB.
Unless the money makers realize there is no game without players, soon RU will lose spectator interest. There was signs during the S15 that people will watch only the matches "percieved" to be tough clashes. Even the tests have not been sold out.
How different from a decade ago; getting a ticket to a NZ v OZ was like winning the raffle :)
Posted 05:19 23rd September 2012
JayStarr says...
Ehm... Was the sabbatical he had this year not enough? He hardly played any Super Rugby! And last year too..!
They obviously intend on having him around for 2015.
Oh well, I'm not complaining... The Crusaders are half the team without him than with him. And with SBW and Taumalolo leaving the Chiefs... and Alistair Coetzee finally letting Province (the Stormers) run again (and scoring tries all over the place), this means only one thing:
The Stormers will be be 2013 Super Rugby Champions!!
:P
Posted 03:58 23rd September 2012
Mace says...
Awesome news i reakon, you deserve it Richie!!! Take Dan with you too please we need you BOTH in England to retain that little golden cup!!! But first time to lock that Rugby Championship trophy away along with that record of most test wins in a row. ALL BLACKS FOREVER!!!
Posted 03:45 23rd September 2012
porridge_time says...
Smart move on the part of McCaw, Crusaders and NZRFU. This will allow them the opportunity to continue with the development of Sam Cane and the other up and coming back rowers.
If managed right - and not like John Smit - McCaw could make it through to 2015 WC in England.
Posted 02:55 23rd September 2012
porridge_time says...
Smart move on the part of McCaw, Crusaders and NZRFU. This will allow them the opportunity to continue with the development of Sam Cane and the other up and coming back rowers.
Posted 02:54 23rd September 2012
sandal says...
I don't mind McCaw taking a sabbatical. He can do what he likes.
The demands on players have got out of hand. Not only is the season longer, with more games against strong sides than used to be the case, but play at every level has got faster and more physical. In every way one chooses to look at it, the game is much more demanding than it was in the times of Meads, Shelford and even Jerry Collins.
But let's not pretend that McCaw's sabbatical is going to see him through to the next world cup. He will be just short of 35 by then, and that is no age for an open-side flanker. So the only options for him will be blindside and No 8 -- where I am sure he would be very good. McCaw has a fair amount of good rugby left in him, but New Zealand already has a better player at 8, and I expect there will be better players at both 6 and 8 in 2015.
So come the world cup, the only presence McCaw will have will be as a mentor and senior player at best. He will not be captain because he will not be getting many, if any, starts. And a captain must be guaranteed a start.
But a lot of water has to pass under the bridge. There's a good chance that McCaw simply won't be up with the pace, will in fact have slipped back, when he returns after his sabbatical. I am sure the NZRFU knows that. After all, though he has been in great form this season, it took him a while to get cranked up. Talk of the next world cup is probably just a distraction to appease the rugby-watching public.
I expect him to retire before 2015. In the meantime, I hope he can finish this long season on a winning streak.
Posted 02:22 23rd September 2012
tha_mai says...
good for him - twelve seasons of test rugby, Super rugby, Air NZ/ITM rugby - approaching 400 first-class matches by the end of this year.
Give the man a break!
Posted 01:37 23rd September 2012
TVaddict says...
Fair enough. He can make a lot of money during his sabbatical even without actually playing rugby! I'm sure there are lot's of tv deals, talks, and probably even short term coaching deals he could do to earn loads of dosh in Europe. Smart move really!
Posted 01:30 23rd September 2012
5Lock4ward says...
Too bad. I'd have loved to see him go to a place like Edinburgh and just dominate. Although imagine how much money a place like Stade Francais would have dished out for him. In my opinion he and Carter could have pushed the NZRU policy and remained AB's while still playing overseas.
Posted 01:09 23rd September 2012
munster30 says...
hmmmmm wonder how the IRB will make him player of the year if he misses 6 months?.................shouldn't be a problem I suppose, they did it in 2009
Posted 01:06 23rd September 2012
KiwiJoe says...
They say he extracts his own teeth, as and when required.....
Posted 01:06 23rd September 2012
hellovanite says...
In some ways I think yes it's great that we are managing him, but I really have to ask what message this sends to the next tier of players waiting on their shot i.e. Sam Cane. We want you to play well but just remember you are just a caretaker. Don't get me wrong Ritchie is a great player and if he's able to foot it in 2015 at the same level hell yeah! But I do worry about the pyschological affect this has on player development and succession.Ritchie does not seem to interested in making a permanent shift to any of the other loose forward positions at the moment but depending how things go over the next 3 years trhat may change
Posted 00:20 23rd September 2012
BillyMutt2 says...
Good on him, he deserves every bit of it. And if Richie ends up not playing in Europe during his sabbatical, that will be just further evidence of how great a servant of NZ rugby he is, not just chasing after the easy money like so many others.
NZ Rugby doing a great job managing their key players.
Posted 00:04 23rd September 2012
Trinats2 says...
Coincidence that the six months is in line with the new laws being introduced !!!
Not sure why, he didn¿t know the old ones !!!
Posted 23:46 22nd September 2012
kiwilad says...
Beginning of the end??
Posted 23:27 22nd September 2012