Richie McCaw disparages Boxing in an interview about Rugby World Cup contenders

Having named his favorites to win the 2023 World Cup, the former All black Captain Richie McCaw made little mention of the reigning champions springboxchances.

McCaw spoke to World rugbyThe official website as the World Cup on Wednesday marked 100 days until the start of France 2023.

When asked later this year about favorites to win the Webb Ellis Cup, the two-time world CupThe winning captain mentioned almost all of the opponents, with the exception of the Springboks, who enter the tournament as the defending champions.

“Interesting backstory”

“If you look at the top 10 in the rankings, the results showed that the teams that finished seventh, eighth and ninth got the opportunity to one day knock out one of the big guys. But in order to continue and win, you need to do it three weeks in a row, and I’m not sure that some of these teams have that ability,” McCaw said.

“The good thing is that all these teams can reach the quarterfinals and have a real carnage. And if you get a couple of those results, it might open the door for someone else to run around a bit and have more faith that they can actually do it. I think that’s what made the preparation for this tournament so interesting.

“Not to mention I want the All Blacks to do well, I think the question of who can win is pretty broad,” he added.

New Zealand needs improvement

“You’re not too sure about what might happen. So there’s another side to it, and I guess from a New Zealand perspective, in the past, you kind of always knew that if they can put it all together, they can go and get the job done, whereas after last year you’re something something like: “jeepers, some improvements will be required to put the team in the right position.”

“I think from a northern hemisphere perspective, Ireland set the tone for the Six Nations and the French aren’t that far behind, so it’s pretty intriguing.

“There is no doubt that people think the French and Irish have a pretty good chance of winning.

“But rankings aside, I saw the Irish in New Zealand last year in three tests and they have a pretty strong determination to know they’re on a mission.

“The way they put that series win together was pretty impressive, and just recently they confirmed it again, so that’s going to make it interesting.”

To read Richie McCaw’s full World Rugby interview, click here Here.

This story first appeared on sarugbymag.co.za. Posted here with permission. For original story click Here.