Former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw was renowned for avoiding the shrill blast of the referee’s whistle.
Click Here: cheap bulldogs jersey
During his distinguished career, McCaw racked up 149 appearances in the black jersey.
He also played 145 times for the Crusaders and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
During his playing career, McCaw was well known for being able to bend the laws of rugby and get away with just about anything on the pitch, with that view on the All Black great still true in many minds today.
Despite being an openside flanker playing on the edge of the laws, he received just three yellow cards while representing the All Blacks and was never sent off.
Many fans won’t remember a matchday referee raising their arm to penalise McCaw, but the YouTube rugby compilations channel run by Andrew Forde proves that it did, in fact, happen.
“‘Richie McCaw gets away with anything with that invisibility cloak’ is what people often said… I’ve dug through the archives and found very rare footage of all the times he was penalised,” Forde tweeted.
"Richie McCaw gets away with anything with that invisibility cloak' is what people often said…
I've dug through the archives and found very rare footage of all the times he was penalised.
To see more examples, click the link here: https://t.co/6Dveod6ynn pic.twitter.com/4yPF9li4Kp
— Andrew Forde (@andrewfrugby) April 6, 2023
In the full video titled, “Richie McCaw being penalised (VERY RARE FOOTAGE)”, Forde highlights 26 times that McCaw was penalised during his playing career with the All Blacks and Crusaders.
Richie McCaw stats
Retiring as the most capped player in Test rugby history, now overtaken by Alun Wyn Jones, McCaw captained the All Blacks 110 times.
He held other notable world records, including winning more Test matches than any other player (131).
McCaw also scored more Test tries than any other forward (27) and became the first player to captain his country to two Rugby World Cup titles.
He also won a record 97 Tests as captain and claimed seven Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship titles and 10 Bledisloe Cup series.
He also claimed four Super Rugby titles, three as captain.
In 2019, he was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
McCaw also turned down a possible knighthood in 2011.
He was appointed a member of New Zealand’s highest honour, the Order of New Zealand, in 2016. The honour surpassed the knighthood he previously snubbed.