All Black legends Richie McCaw announces retirement

The All Blacks captain has always been tipped to retire after the Rugby World Cup, but was unwilling to announce his plans until the tournament was over.

Richie McCaw has announced his retirement from rugby with his last action in the game fittingly lifting the Webb Ellis Cup for New Zealand for a second time in his illustrious career.

McCaw fuelled rumours about his retirement last month when he wasn’t included in the 2016 Crusaders Super Rugby squad, a team he debuted for in 2001.

A three-time World Rugby player of the year, McCaw is the first person in rugby history to achieve 100 worldwide caps as captain.

“Knowing that I was able to end my career by helping the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup final is a hugely satisfying feeling…”

The announcement comes just a day after the sudden death of All Black great Jonah Lomu, which prompted a flood of global tributes from sport stars, politicians, and celebrities.

The milestones kept on coming for McCaw after he took a sabbatical in early 2013 to rest his body for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

McCaw resisted temptation to put off a scheduled announcement on Thursday in Wellington following the passing of his former team-mate Jonah Lomu on Tuesday.

He is also widely considered to be the greatest player to play the game of rugby.

Ever since being named as the All Blacks’ youngest captain at the age of 23 – against Wales in 2004 – he has broken records with the same frequency as he did the spirits of opposition players. If it went the other way, I wanted to enjoy being still an All Black and make it about the team, not individuals.

Richie McCaw was the farm boy who became the embodiment of the all-conquering All Blacks.

“Richie couldn’t have picked a better time”.