All Blacks: McCaw named world's best

All Black skipper Richie McCaw's evening in Marseilles ended on a double high as he collected the IRB Player of the Year award after the 39-12 thumping of France.

The All Black captain, who was winning his 80th cap, collected the award for the second time - seeing off competition from fellow nominees Mat Giteau, Brian O'Driscoll, Fourie du Preez, Jamie Heaslip and Frans Steyn.

"I am very proud to be collecting this," McCaw said, "but you can't do it on your own. I have been proud to play alongside you [his team-mates]."

The award was the perfect end for what was almost a perfect night for the All Blacks. After some stilted performances in the earlier stages of the tour, they opened the throttle in France with the sort of performance that the rest of the world will have watched with both awe and trepidation.

Most of these All Blacks were crashing into tackles bags in late January, yet they were still full running in the closing stages of the test and would have been happy to have played another 10 minutes.

It was the All Blacks who were hitting the ball at pace and hammering into the contact areas and it was the All Blacks who looked as if they could open the French every time they had possession.

While the main theme of the night was how well the All Blacks used the ball, they pulled off their other key goal of keeping their defensive line in tact. For the second consecutive northern hemisphere tour, they have not conceded a try in a test match.

It's a phenomenal record and one they had to scramble to complete as the French, although well beaten, still managed to play with dynamism and enterprise.

The victory also kept alive the All Blacks' perfect record while playing in their white jerseys although it was noted that McCaw had switched to a black jersey to accept his award.