All Black profile: Richie McCaw

By DAVID LEGGAT

Openside flanker

Age: 22

Height: 1.88m

Weight: 105kg

NPC team: Canterbury

Super 12: Crusaders

Super 12 games: 26

Test debut: 2001

Test caps: 14

They come along every once in a long while.

Being an All Black is one thing. Colin Meads once said he wanted to be not just an All Black, but a good one.

It's an understatement to say he achieved his goal, and don't be surprised if in a few years' time McCaw is being talked of as a great All Black.

Michael Jones is accepted as the benchmark for No 7s, arguably the best of all time.

It would be a stretch still to say McCaw is heading down that path, but he has all the attributes for a long and glittering career.

He won his first cap at openside against Ireland in Dublin - when he was regarded as man of the match - before he had played in the Super 12, such was the impact he made on his NPC debut for Canterbury in 2001.

Before that he had been a member of New Zealand's winning under-19 World Cup team in Wales in 1999 - something he can reminisce about with his team-mates of then and now, Jerry Collins, Mils Muliaina and Aaron Mauger, if he has time in Australia.

If the All Blacks make the semifinal against Australia and the final against France - assuming England have been dispatched - then watch for two classic confrontations.

In George Smith and Olivier Magne, Australia and France respectively possess the other two stellar No 7s of the world game.

Watching that trio joust for supremacy on the game's biggest stage will be worth a decent chunk of the admission price.

In most other national teams Marty Holah would be a standout openside specialist. His problem in this squad is the player who stands in front of him.