Former Black Stick Gemma McCaw has opened up about her early interactions with now husband, and former All Black Richie McCaw.
On the Between Two Beers podcast, McCaw spoke about leaving Richie’s Facebook messages “on seen” after the pair had met at a community sporting event in Hamilton.
Her nana had asked then Gemma Flynn to get Richie’s signature on a rugby ball for an All Blacks loving, terminally-ill 10-year-old boy.
That challenge was what spurred the initial introduction between McCaw and now husband of nine years.
“He turned around and I remember thinking ‘oh, you’re very nice…looking’.
“I truly believe that my nana brought us together,” she said.
Following the encounter, McCaw said she received a message from the former All Blacks captain right before the 2012 Olympics kicked off.
McCaw said she was amused because Richie had a Top Gun Maverick profile picture.
“I left him on seen because I never wanted anything to get in the way of that Olympics,” she said.
To watch the full podcast episode, go to TVNZ+
But Richie wasn’t deterred and tried to message McCaw again after she missed a penalty shoot-out in one of the last matches of the London Olympics.
“When I missed the shoot-out, ‘Maverick’ popped up again.”
McCaw left him waiting for a few more weeks before she finally replied.
She also spoke to podcast hosts Steve Holloway and Seamus Marten, about the challenges of her early days dating Richie McCaw.
On a memorable first date, the two went out for coffee and ended up on the front page of the Women’s Day the following week.
She said it was “quite unnerving”, to be a 22-year-old dating someone at the centre of the public eye and 10 years older. “It can be tiring” she said.
McCaw also reflected on how the pair try to stay true to themselves in their public life as well as their private life.
“We try to be good people; we try to be authentic and celebrate people.”
She said their fast-paced lifestyle had to change once they had children and how being a mother has shaped her.
“I’ve had to be okay with the person I am, without Gemma the hockey player or the sports person. I’m actually comfortable with that.
“After three children, at my age, I know who I am,” she said.