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All Blacks' coaches laud McCaw

New Zealand captain and man of the match Richie McCaw wins a lineout during the All Blacks 13-9 defeat of Australia at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday. PHOTO: EPA

Superlatives flowed yesterday for captain Richie McCaw after his inspirational leadership role in New Zealand's courageous retention of the Bledisloe Cup against Australia at Lang Park.

The All Blacks hang on to the symbol of trans-Tasman rugby supremacy for a fourth year after a backs-to-the-wall 13-9 win over the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday following their 32-12 victory in Christchurch on July 8.

The Kiwis led 10-6 at halftime and held on for a gripping victory with flyhalf Dan Carter's 58th-minute drop goal their only score of a fiercely-contested second half before a ground record crowd of 52,498.

The Wallabies dominated for long stretches of the second half to pin the All Blacks deep inside their territory but could not breach the tenacious black defensive wall for the match-breaking try.

The Wallabies failed to score a try in a Test for the first time since their 18-9 loss to Ireland in Dublin almost four years ago.

No one was more influential in the outcome than New Zealand's outstanding open-side flanker McCaw, whose 19 tackles dwarfed the defensive contributions of players on both sides.

"He can't play better than that, I thought Richie was outstanding. The outstanding individual player of the game, superb."

Graham Henry, All Blacks' head coach, praises captain Richie McCaw's performance against the Wallabies on Saturday

The highlight of the 25-year-old Canterbury Crusaders flanker's performance was his try-saving tackle on flying Wallaby winger Mark Gerrard in the 54th minute in a titanic duel where winger Joe Rokocoko scored the only try in the 10th minute.

"He can't play better than that, I thought Richie was outstanding. The outstanding individual player of the game, superb," All Blacks' coach Graham Henry said.

"In defense he saved a try in the far right-hand corner and I just thought the defensive effort was superb," Henry said.

Assistant coach and former Wales national coach Steve Hansen believed McCaw clearly won the battle of rugby's two outstanding number sevens against Wallaby George Smith.

"He was inspirational. To get back and make the tackle on Gerrard in the corner and then pinch the ball off him was phenomenal," Hansen said yesterday.

"He just did things like that all night and his leadership role is growing into that and his playing is just top-notch," he said. "In George Smith, who I really rate, you have two of the greatest open-side flankers that have ever played the game, and for Richie to come out on top like he did then it had to be a huge performance."

With just over 13 months out to the World Cup in France, McCaw is developing into an outstanding leader as world rugby's top-ranked team have won their last 13 internationals, stretching back to their last loss against South Africa 16-22 in Cape Town on August 6 last year.

The victory stretched New Zealand's lead in the Tri-Nations series to 13 points, seven points clear of the Wallabies, who gained a scoring bonus point with South Africa winless in their two games.

"It was a display that shows that defense wins Test matches," McCaw said after Saturday's Test.

"We put a lot of effort into that because we didn't have a lot of ball and I'm pretty proud of the way the guys dug deep because we had to," he said. "I'm pleased to be having a week off. Always when you play the Wallabies it's physical, but yet the ball gets thrown around a lot and I know all the guys are out on the feet and in those last few minutes we had to dig pretty deep."

"But it feels good when you come out on the right side of the scoreboard, it makes it all feel so worthwhile," McCaw said.

New Zealand have three weeks off before they take on Australia for a third time on Aug. 19.
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