New Zealand captain Richie McCaw has predicted a “brutal” Test match when the All Blacks face South Africa in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final at Twickenham.
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McCaw’s men will go into battle as favourites in pursuit of a history-making second-successive world title, but the 34-year-old has been around long enough to understand how big a challenge lies ahead.
“It will be a brutal game, but they are the games I love,” said McCaw, who wins his 147th cap. “If you get the odd scar from it, that’s just part and parcel.
“Being in that environment, playing that opposition with that sort of intensity, is why you play the game. If we get the job done, I will take any scar that comes along with it.
“There is genuine desire for tomorrow to come around and get stuck in, but we realise the challenge that the Springboks are going to pose. They are going to be desperate and we’ve got to match that. It will be brutal because of that.
“The team that can deal with that and take the moments that are on offer will be the one that succeeds.”
New Zealand arrived in the semifinals following a 62-13 demolition of France in Cardiff last weekend, but that result is now history as far as McCaw is concerned.
“The first couple of days this week were about ensuring there was a full stop,” he added. “I think we have done that pretty well. Looking at the way we trained, the guys are in a pretty good space and understand the challenge that is coming. We are under absolutely no illusions about what is going to be in front of us.”
New Zealand were at their allsinging, all-dancing best when they put France to the sword, yet McCaw knows full well where the semifinal will be decided.
“It is not so much the flash stuff that is going to count, it’s being able to do the things that mean you can get across the advantage line. That doesn’t change in any game of rugby,” he said. “You live or die by tomorrow, and it is about getting the fundamentals right.”
