Richie McCaw - THE OPEN SIDE

Richie McCaw with Greg McGee

$49.99 RRP, Hodder Moa

‘Richie McCaw is so much more than just an iconic player. In terms of all-round leadership, life balance, intellect and rugby playing ability, there has never been anyone better.’ — Wayne Smith

  

From the time his father told him as a child that ‘he would enjoy his rugby more if he got fitter’, Richard Hugh McCaw never looked back.

Captain of the All Blacks since 2006, he is the face of rugby in New Zealand and one of our best-known and most admired figures. He has been named International Player of the Year three times and is considered the greatest player of his generation, and quite possibly the finest loose forward of all time.

But what do we know of Richie the person and what drives him? In The Open Side, he reveals his passions and motivations, on and off the field.

Teamed with Greg McGee, one of our great contemporary writers — and a man who himself is no stranger to rugby culture — the two have produced an outstanding book. The Open Side delves into the inner McCaw, the defining events and people in his life, as well as providing insight into the modern game and its professional players and coaches — including frank comment on the Deans–Henry debate.

Richie’s leadership has had a huge impact on the team, and The Open Side traces his rise from fresh-faced Under 19 squad member in 1999 to hardened 100-cap veteran in 2011. As a participant in three Rugby World Cups, Richie describes the agony of defeat in 2007, and the four years of ‘living in a tunnel’ before clawing his way to ‘the light’ of a dramatic victory with the All Blacks in the 2011 final.

Greg McGee is best known for Foreskin’s Lament and other plays (most recently Me & Robert McKee). His television credits, for which he has won several best script awards, include Erebus: the Aftermath, Fallout, Street Legal and Doves of War. More recently, under the pseudonym Alix Bosco, he has won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Fiction Novel with Cut & Run, in 2010, and was a finalist for the same award in 2011 with Slaughter Falls. His third novel Love & Money was published in 2012 under his own name. He has also written about sport for Le Monde, New Zealand Listener and Sky Sport Magazine. After debuting for the North Otago Under 6 Stone 7s, Greg played for Otago, South Island, New Zealand Universities and the 1972 Junior All Blacks, and was an All Black trialist.