Lyttelton's Mark Whyte has been selected by the Kurow Museum Committee.
Mr Whyte said he was approached in late February by the statue's organisers to see if he would be interested in taking on the McCaw brief.
The statue project was announced last August.
Mr Whyte said the assignment was ''right up my alley''.
''People like Richie are the sort of role models that should have [statues]. Not only is he probably our most successful All Black in history, but he's just a hell of a nice guy as well. I'm thrilled.''
He hoped to get under way this year by starting on clay modelling, but added a contract was yet to be signed.
Earlier this year Oamaru artist Don Paterson was removed from the statue project despite a press release from the Kurow Museum in August which heavily implied Mr Paterson was creating the sculpture and contained quotes from him including: ''For me to be creating this sculpture is a real honour; just fantastic.''
Committee chairman Bob Watherston said Mr Whyte was chosen for the project following guidance from the Christchurch Art Gallery.
Mr Whyte's work included the statue of Charles Upham in Amberley and the bronze sled dog sculpture outside Lyttelton Library.
At present the statue's pose was being worked through, he said.
''It's very painstaking work because we need to have that right. That will be finalised this week. As soon as we have it finalised we'll be able to publish our brochure that will be used for fundraising.''
