Richie McCaw - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 2009, McCaw was dating professional dancer Hayley Holt, who was swimmer Mark Foster's partner on the British television show Strictly Come Dancing, although there are rumours that they have since broken up. In June 2011, reports said that his girlfriend is New Zealand journalist Nicola Grigg. His other sporting passion is flying and he has been made an honorary Squadron Leader in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. McCaw learned to fly gliders from his grandfather, who flew more than 300 missions in the Second World War. In 2009 he convinced the head of the Discovery network in Australia and New Zealand to do a show about gliding. They filmed McCaw gliding at Omarama on the extreme sports series Sportstar Insider, which was hosted by former Australian rugby league player Andrew Ettingshausen. After the 2010 Canterbury earthquake he auctioned a personal flying lesson through Trade Me to raise money for the badly damaged Hororata St Johns Church. He is also raising money for a young Samoan who broke his neck playing rugby and whose village was destroyed in the 2009 Tsunami. In 2010, McCaw and Dan Carter were on a NZ$750,000 a year contract that will see them through to the end of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, making them the highest paid rugby players in New Zealand at the time. This contract would still apply if they had not been selected for the World Cup squad. McCaw is the first All Black to reach 100 test caps.

In December 2011, Prime Minister John Key revealed that he had asked McCaw about the possibility of a knighthood in the 2012 New Year Honours, but that McCaw had turned it down. According to Key, "He made the call that he's still in his playing career and it didn't feel quite right for him, that day where he's no longer on the pitch may be the right time for him." No formal offer was ultimately made.

In the 2012 Mega Kiwi Sex Survey, McCaw was voted as the most desirable man by New Zealand women- ahead of fellow All Blacks Sonny Bill Williams and Dan Carter.