Bill McCaw, the former Southland captain who held the mantle of the oldest living All Black, has died aged 97.
Stuff is reporting the former Southland captain died in hospital in Christchurch yesterday.
McCaw, a distant relative of All Blacks great Richie, was a hard-working loose forward who played 32 games, including five tests, for the All Blacks between 1951 and 1954.
He was born in Gore and educated at St Kevin’s College in Oamaru before training to be a teacher in Dunedin.
McCaw came to prominence when he helped Southland beat the Lions in 1950, and he made his All Blacks debut a year later, playing in the three test wins.
His 1952 season was disrupted by injuries, which ruled him out of the two tests against Australia, but he was back to his best in 1953 and named in the squad to tour Britain and France.
McCaw played in 22 games on that tour, including the internationals against Wales and France, and the tour-ending game against the Barbarians.
He captained the All Blacks in a midweek tour game against North of Scotland, and in 1954 was captain of the South Island and of the New Zealand XV that played New Zealand Māori.
McCaw’s last season was in 1955 in which he made two more appearances for the New Zealand XV and was a reserve for the first test against Australia.
After retirement, he was a coach and administrator for the Marist club in Invercargill, and served for several years on the Southland union’s management committee, but he focused on family life and working as a teacher then a school principal, before retiring to Russley Village in Christchurch.
In later years, McCaw was regularly asked if he was related to Richie. He tended to say no, but some research uncovered a distant link.
“On my 90th birthday, my family took me out for a helicopter ride and of course who was the pilot but Richie,’’ he told NZME.
“We all enjoyed it and he is such an easy guy to talk to, very down to earth. We didn’t get into match specifics at all — his record is too overwhelming.”
