Who is the Greatest All Black of All Time?

Who is the greatest All Black of all time?

It's quite a difficult question to answer especially for a sport where there are so many different types of positions with different responsibilities. Indeed, often a prop might not be considered as highly as a winger because he doesn't score as many tries - but a prop is often more prominent than a winger on a field especially when conditions aren't suited for running rugby.

Many names have been vaunted, e.g. Dave Gallaher, George Nepia, Sir Fred Allen, Colin Meads, Brian Lochore, Michael Jones, John Kirwan, Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, etc.

In my opinion, the greatest All Black ever is...

Richard Hugh McCaw.
Our most capped All Black at the moment, and set to be the most capped AB of all time for some time yet, multiple Bledisloe Cup and Grand Slam winning captain and of course a Rugby World Cup winner - which he played a vital part in despite a broken foot.

Great with the ball and without, McCaw's provincial career has also been pretty illustrious with NPC wins early in his career and involved in 5 of the 8 Super Rugby titles the Crusaders have won.

As captain, McCaw has only lost 13 out of his 118 matches with a stunning record of 88.55% - superb in the modern era.

The one thing that often makes a player great is the struggle to fill the void when they aren't around. I think the ABs struggle a bit more and are more human without McCaw on the paddock. Yes Sam Cane, Matt Todd, Tanerau Latimer, Marty Holah and Daniel Braid were all good players but they're just not Richie McCaw.

Indeed, it is now very hard to imagine an All Blacks side without McCaw even if we know it will happen.