Ardie Savea earning his 100th cap <\/a>last weekend, and they’ll have another boost for the rematch with an icon of the game in camp.<\/p>\nCentre Quinn Tupaea has been especially influenced by McCaw’s presence.<\/p>\n
“We need to go to another level,” said Tupaea.<\/p>\n
“There was a lot of emotion last week, given the occasion with Ardie and Eden Park, so we have got Richie in camp this week.<\/p>\n
“We are drawing a bit of inspiration from him and the history there. It\u2019s pretty crazy seeing him in the environment; it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve met him. He just gives us confidence, gives us some inspiration.”<\/p>\n
McCaw is now 44, and retired from the game following the 2015 World Cup triumph. He won 148 caps for New Zealand and was skipper for 131 of them.<\/p>\n
A titan of the game in his pomp, this also demanded the bulkier, rugby physique we are accustomed to seeing in modern rugby.<\/p>\n
However, since the back-row legend hung up his boots, he’s slimmed down considerably now that he’s not required to bury his head into rucks anymore.<\/p>\n
Reports suggest that McCaw has trimmed 20kg (three stone) since he called it a day a decade ago. This weight loss has been aided by his passion for cardio.<\/p>\n
He’s big on cycling, and often posts to his Instagram, and rides for charity events. Back in April, the ex-All Black rode for the Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter and Lakes District Air Rescue Trust from Queenstown to Invercargill.<\/p>\n
However, just 11 weeks ago, McCaw was spotted in the gym, proving he’s still got it.<\/p>\n
Posting to Instagram, he wrote: “Great weekend with the lads for Matariki with a bit of fitness testing, just for fun \ud83d\ude09 Still plenty of competitiveness just under the surface.”<\/p>\n
Pictures show him completing deadlifts and squats, as well as a multitude of cardio activities.<\/p>\n
Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n
McCaw’s day-to-day life sees him flying helicopters as a commercial pilot.<\/p>\n
It started out as a simple hobby, which involved working as an instructor, too. However, McCaw, often a hero on the field in his playing days, was forced to produce a heroic act nine years ago.<\/p>\n
Barely a year after he hung up his boots, New Zealand town Kaikoura experienced an earthquake, prompting pilot McCaw to help deliver crucial humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n
Working alongside charities, the ex-rugby star flew back and forth to deliver supplies, medical equipment and resources to those affected in the South Island coastal town.<\/p>\n
“I took the fire crew up just to make sure everyone was OK in the houses and the roads that were stuck there,” he said.<\/p>\n
His acts of kindness didn’t stop there, though.<\/p>\n
One year later, he volunteered as a firefighter during the 2017 Christmas<\/a> Day fire in Canterbury. McCaw piloted one of the five helicopters deployed to the scene in Hororata, with 20 fire trucks providing support.<\/p>\nMcCaw’s partner Gemma Flynn posted a picture of her family stood in front of the helicopter, with McCaw in a fire-fighting boiler suit.<\/p>\n
Her post read: “Merry Christmas from Mr & Mrs McClaus. Santa was out fighting fires but arrived home in time for tea.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand rugby legend Richie McCaw has kept himself very busy since retiring. 13:01, 09 Sep 2025Updated 13:02,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[36918,5903,101,36917,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-126908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-new-zealand-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-the-rugby-championship","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_RM-picture.jpg\")
Richie McCaw has trimmed down since retiring from rugby. (Image: Richie McCaw on Instagram. )<\/p>\n