Sunday Star Times -Greg Ford,
Sunday, 15 June 2008
NEW ZEALANDERS struggling to recover from the shock of the world cup dis
aster in Cardiff last year can do no worse than look to inspirational All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.
aster in Cardiff last year can do no worse than look to inspirational All Blacks captain Richie McCaw. McCaw, from a rural upbringing in North Otago, ditched his frustrations last October by getting his hands dirty on a farm, even calling it a form of "therapy".
His mate Bob Kyle owns a patch of dirt in Springfield near Christchurch. For McCaw it was a sanctuary from the gloom of Cardiff.
"I didn't do much, just a bit of calf-marking," he said. "I rip up there from time to time to shoot a few rabbits but this was a different [kind of therapy]."
McCaw said he needed to think, talk and work at something "other than rugby"."Farming is great for that," he said. "There's a couple of other blokes up there I know and we don't generally talk about rugby. I took a week off to do some gliding too and that pretty much did the trick."
The farm stay business could not have had a better advert.
McCaw has been in imperious form of late, most notably in the Super 14 final and last week against the Irish. McCaw said re-signing with the NZRU until the end of 2011 lifted a weight from his shoulders. 
A libertating feeling? "It's nice not having to worry about those sorts of things, I suppose. I was thinking along the lines of staying but now that I can come out and say it, yes, it does feel [liberating]," he said.
___
pics which have nothing to do with the article but with "Trade me"
No comments:
Post a Comment