Richie McCaw is a freak. The world record holder for the most international test appearances has finally called time on his career with his 148th, and final, game for his country having come in his second World Cup final. He's had a remarkable career over the past 14 years, and these eight stats from New Zealand Herald really do illustrate how good McCaw really is.
4 - Only four other players in history have played as many international tests as Richie McCaw has international victories (130 - Brian O'Driscoll, George Gregan, Keven Mealamu, Ronan O'Gara).
5 - Five countries in the World's top 20 ranked teams (Georgia, Uruguay, Tonga, Samoa, Canada) have less wins than Richie McCaw in their history. A sixth (Japan) only have five more victories.
32% - Richie McCaw has been involved in nearly a third of all of the All Blacks victories since the beginning of the sport in 1903.
6 - McCaw holds the records for the most amount of tests played against one opposition (36 v Australia). He's only lost six of those games.
132 - The number of players who have made their international debuts for New Zealand since McCaw's against Ireland in 2001.
68 - New Zealand's winning percentage in games without McCaw. That's compared to 88.4% with the flanker in their side.
4 - He's only ever lost to four different teams - Australia (6), South Africa (6), England (2), France (1).
3 - Only three of his fifteen losses in 147 games had margins of defeat of double digits. His biggest loss was against England in 2013 (38-21).
[New Zealand Herald]
