Get a glimpse of Chasing Great, the film about former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw

Throughout his career Richie McCaw has always been "intensely private". But two film directors spent an entire year following him around looking to answer the question: who is Richie when he's not on the field?

Kiwi documentary makers Justin Pemberton and Michelle Walshe are not rugby fans, but they did want to tell the bigger story about the former All Blacks captain.

Richie fans are about to get a lot of insight into the former ABs captain's life. Photo / Supplied

Grabbing their cameras they spent a total of 365 days following McCaw in his final season of captaincy as he led the All Blacks and New Zealand to the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

With "unprecedented access" to him, the team, and his friends and family, Richie and the All Blacks took the filmmakers all around the world and back, culminating with his final triumph at Eden Park.

In the year they filmed, they captured more than 187 hours of footage with the All Blacks, received 50 hours of family video footage from the McCaw family archive as well as untold hours worth of television interviews and game footage.

So what did the pair learn?

Follow Richie McCaw's life story into his final season as an All Black. Photo / Supplied

"To be honest I didn't have too many preconceived ideas about Richie's character, but he has surprised me in a really good way," says Pemberton.

"I love the idea of a hero who's not ego-driven, who started life as a shy kid, and who feels more of an introvert than an extrovert.

"You don't see a lot of these traits in our onscreen heroes and I think these are what makes Richie standout as a refreshing cinematic character - one that many of us will relate to and be inspired by."

"You can expect some great chuckles throughout the film," Walshe adds.

"We get a real sense of Richie McCaw - the person, not the player."