Rugby: Fundraising stalling for statue of All Blacks great Richie McCaw

Fundraising for a proposed statue of former All Black captain Richie McCaw for Kurow has been ''disappointingly slow'', a project fundraising committee member says.

The committee, a sub-committee of the Kurow Museum Committee, was established in 2016 to get the project off the ground. Committee member Peter Ellis said while $32,000 had been raised so far, funds had dribbled in at a slower rate than anticipated.

While that did not threaten the future of the project, it was hoped donations from the public and other donors would start to roll in more quickly.

''It's disappointingly slow,'' he said.

''We are looking for a corporate sponsor to get it on the way and, most importantly, we have two items to auction.''

Those included an All Blacks jersey signed by the 2013 squad and a portrait of McCaw, painted by a Duntroon-based artist.

Both will be posted on auction site Trade Me.

About $400 a month was being dropped into a donation box at the site where the statue will eventually stand; $5000 was raised at a quiz night held several months ago; $3333 was raised through a Givealittle page that had since closed, and $15,000 was given to the committee by the Meridian Energy Power Up Community Fund.

Mr Ellis said while New Zealand Rugby had donated the jersey and a signed ball that was sold at the quiz night, further support from the national body had not been forthcoming.

''The rugby union does not sponsor these sorts of projects, so we will go back to them and say 'are you interested?'. We need a bit more support than that.''

The committee was considering other fundraising avenues, he said.

The statue was expected to cost between $150,000 and $160,000, including installation.

It will be erected on an area of private land next to the town's public toilets, near the intersection of State Highways 83 and 82.

Lyttelton sculptor Mark Whyte has been commissioned to create the bronze statue, which will show McCaw standing tall and holding a rugby ball.