Sean Fitzpatrick: Play the best to be the best

Colin Meads played 155 games for the All Blacks. File photo / NZ Herald

This morning Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina hold the record of being the most-capped All Blacks, beating my 92 caps with their 93rd against Ireland.

Congratulations - it's a great feat. I have never really thought that much about the record, beyond thinking they play so many more test matches these days it couldn't possibly last.

But 92 caps is a lot - and, as many people know, I was lucky enough to escape injury; at least until my last test. That was against Wales in 1997, when I went on at halftime to see if my injured knee could stand up to it and whether I could start in the next test.

All Black coach John Hart took me out to dinner later and said: "You're not playing" and that was it.

There are some parallels with this current All Black team. Graham Henry and Co seem set on playing their best team all the time, with some minor adjustments. That includes playing Richie, Mils and Dan Carter in every match on tour, it seems.

I'm all for it. Have a look at the statistics for all three. Apart from a few rare instances, they have started almost all the tests they have played.

A lot of fans are unhappy we haven't found a back-up for Carter and McCaw in particular - and I understand the concern. The memory of 2007 in Cardiff still lingers in the minds of many.

They wonder why Daniel Braid, supposedly picked as a back-up for McCaw, can't get a run. The Steven Donald business in Hong Kong probably alarmed some further.

But we can't have it both ways. Most of us criticised the rotation of the previous World Cup cycle and now that Graham and Co are doing what we wanted, we are not happy ... ?

Look, too, at the success of All Black teams in the past. The World Cup team of 1987, and other teams I was involved with, like the winning team of 1996, didn't have ready-made replacements either.

We played the best team we had - week in, week out.

In the 1987 World Cup, we didn't even have a replacement hooker. Andy Dalton was injured so there was me, with Steve McDowall covering hooker at prop. Michael Jones was irreplaceable, same as McCaw. You might substitute him if he was injured, but you never replaced him. Mike Brewer and Mark Brooke-Cowden were fine players.

At first five-eighths, Frano Botica was Grant Fox's back-up but, even then, you could see the difference. Fox was started almost all the time and played for 80 minutes. He was a match-winner, plain and simple.

Frano was another fine player but you could always see he hadn't had the time in the All Blacks Foxy had - but he stepped up when he had to.

That's the key, I think. That's what All Blacks do. There is a long tradition of guys riding the pine and then taking their chance when it comes.

You can get too bound up in selection policies and building a team so every component part fits neatly together; you can get blinded to the basics by trying to plug every gap; answer every question; joining up all the dots.

Sometimes you just have to select the guys you think can do the job best and back them up with players who might not have the experience - but who have the character and ability to step up and play to the team strengths when needed.

I think that's what the All Black coaches are doing. All right, there might still be a big selection question mark over No 10, behind Carter. I'd guess the coaches left Aaron Cruden and Colin Slade behind saying that they had to state their case in the Super 15 and maybe in a Tri Nations test or two next year.

They'll be sharpening their weapons for doing exactly that and so they can show that, if needed, they can step up into a well-oiled All Black machine building momentum and belief.

That's the most vital thing - and any newcomer coming into that has their job made easier by those two things applying across a team.

I said last week I was worried these All Blacks had lost some of their momentum. Well, they regained it after Scotland, well enough for me to think once more that they are doing the right thing in the right way.

My record was one thing and Richie and Mils will no doubt go on to gather more caps but, for me, Colin Meads will always be the greatest. He played 55 tests and 133 games across 15 years. There is only one.