McCaw: I'm never 'gun shy'
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:57
Richie McCaw and Danie Rossouw have a difference of opinion. (c) Gallo
Richie McCaw - public enemy No.1 in South Africa, less than popular in Australia and a folk hero in New Zealand - readily admits that he always 'pushes the boundaries'.
The long-time Kiwi skipper, speaking ahead of Saturday's Tri-Nations/Bledisloe Cup double header, said he consciously goes into games with a clear view as to how much he can get away with.
And he has no desire to change his approach.
For the 29-year-old, riding the boundaries of the ruck law are just part of his trade and he was unapologetic.
"As long as I am not putting my team under heaps of pressure, you still have to be at the point of knowing what you can get away with and what you can't," McCaw told a media gathering in Melbourne.
"[If you] go in gun-shy you're not going to have an impact.
"I think the big thing is to understand where you sit and what you're going to get away with and what you're not," he added.
"I think I gave away four penalties or it might even have been five [in the last Springboks game] and there were a couple of them I was disappointed with."
The All Blacks captain stopped short of admitting that a good No.7 had to deliberately overstep the mark, saying that "experience" taught him where to draw the line.
"How do I say it? What I think is right and what he [the referee] thinks is right could be different so you've got to figure it out pretty quick," McCaw said.
"I always think the things I'm trying to do are the right things and if he's penalising me for some reason I think 'geez I'm not going to get away with that today' or 'that's not going to work with this ref'.
"Each of them [referees] is a little bit different. I have a fairly good understanding of where they'll sit, just through experiences. I do know what they're going to do and I always have a yarn in the shed before the game as to what they've seen previously or if they've got any concerns. Hopefully they'll tell me if they think I'm getting it all wrong."
Despite admitting he deserved to get penalised a couple of times in the recent back-to-back victories over South Africa, McCaw has vowed to make South African referee Craig Joubert earn his keep against the Wallabies this weekend.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and captain John Smit could hardly contain their frustration after their 17-31 loss to the All Blacks 11 days ago, with both making thinly-veiled accusations towards McCaw after he survived repeated warnings from Irish referee Alain Rolland.
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