All Black captain Richie McCaw gave one of the greatest displays in rugby yesterday to shatter the world champions in their own backyard.
South Africa finished a fumbling, disorganised, broken outfit in Cape Town, losing 19-0, laid to waste by McCaw and his brilliant reading of the gameallied to coruscating tackling.
Down the years, the All Blacks have produced some special flankers: Waka Nathan, Andy Leslie, Graham Mourie and Michael Jones to name just a few. But McCaw's performance before a disbelieving 50,000 crowd cemented his claim to a place in that hallowed group.
McCaw, a wonderfully inspirational captain, gave Schalk Burger a lesson in accuracy and precision. The Springboks lack nothing in courage and commitment, but, when it came to detail, McCaw was in a class of his own. He won the loose ball constantly, cleverly slowed it down when the situation required, read the play intelligently and made tackle after tackle.
Whenever danger threatened, he was there. He covered intelligently, read the play like a book and was at hand whenever most needed. He chased kicks and competed for up-and-unders. He caught Fourie du Preez early on when the Springbok halfback threatened to slice through to the line, and later was on hand near the All Blacks line for another crucial tackle.
But his piece de resistance came as early as the seventh minute. Ma'a Nonu flung out a hasty pass which died close by McCaw's boots. Yet in an instant, Captain Fabulous had plucked the ball off the turf, summed up the situation, adjudged there was no way through a flat, aggressive defence and drilled a perfectly weighted grubber kick through them into open space.
Conrad Smith read the intent perfectly and just beat Butch James to the ball over the line.
Chiefly due to McCaw, New Zealand won at a canter. They were without the ball for long periods, which seems to be no bad thing in the modern game, and they could even afford the luxury of seeing Daniel Carter miss kick after kick.
