All Blacks skipper RIchie McCaw has been named the NZ Herald's New Zealander of the Year
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The New Zealand Herald's Dylan Cleaver explains why the newspaper has named All Blacks captain Richie McCaw the New Zealand of the Year.
"It is McCaw's great skill in that although he is at the very apex of professional sport - he and Dan Carter are New Zealand's two highest-paid players and their media and public commitments are strictly vetted and controlled by agents and communications managers - he has retained a sense of normality.
"His down-to-earth image is uncultivated. The casual she'll-be-right shrug of the shoulders when he's asked to assess problems, real or imagined, is not practiced.
"It is easy to imagine McCaw leaving his door at 7.30am in the morning, doing a day's work at the office before heading to footy practice, even if that lifestyle is a million miles from the one he is living.
"Put simply, McCaw is a popular chap, but even he sounds genuinely awestruck at the amount of goodwill that's been thrown his way since the 8-7 win against France on October 23.
"I've had a lot of letters and everyone that comes up has a 'well done' for me. People have said to me that I must be sick of being congratulated. I'm like: 'Shit no, it's awesome'," he says. "It's blown me away really. People who wouldn't normally take a lot of interest in rugby were telling me they never even really watched the All Blacks, yet here they were watching other games and loving it."
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