Early Years
McCaw's great-great-grandfather immigrated to New Zealand, from the Scottish Borders in 1893, and settled in the Hakataramea Valley, North Otago. McCaw's father still works the family farm and his mother is a local teacher. On New Year's Eve 1980, Richard Hugh McCaw was born in the nearby town of Oamaru. He grew up on his parents' farm along with his sister Joanna. McCaw started flying gliders with his grandfather, a Tempest pilot during World War II credited with shooting down 20 V1 missiles, when he was nine years old. He played rugby for the local Kurow rugby club as a youngster, but it was not until 1994, when he boarded at Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin, that he started to take the game seriously.
In his last year at Otago Boys High, McCaw was head boy, proxime accessit (runner up) to the dux and played in the school's top rugby team. McCaw came to the attention of national selectors during a 5-all draw with Rotorua Boys' High School in the 1998 New Zealand secondary schools rugby final in Christchurch. However, he failed to make the New Zealand Secondary Schools Team, losing out to Sam Harding, Angus McDonald and Hale T-Pole. With Sam Harding moving south to study at the University of Otago, McCaw headed to Christchurch's Lincoln University to study agricultural science and pursue his rugby interests. He achieved all but two papers for his Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree before rugby became his life. He received an honorary doctorate on recognition of his sporting achievements in April 2012.
In 1999, McCaw was selected in the New Zealand under 19 squad (coached by Mark Shaw), which won the world championship in Wales. During that series, McCaw realised his All Blacks dream could be attainable. The following year he was selected in the New Zealand under 21 squad and debuted for Canterbury in the National Provincial Championship (NPC) against North Harbour. On 31 March 2001 he made his Super Rugby debut with the Crusaders, playing a few minutes in a losing effort against the Hurricanes. That year he only played twice for the Crusaders, both times as a substitute, for a total of just eight minutes playing time. He did however play a full season with NPC champions Canterbury and captained the New Zealand Under 21s.
Read more about this topic: Richie McCaw
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