All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw is set to follow team-mate Dan Carter in re-committing his playing future to New Zealand © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

News: McCaw re-signs with NZRU

News: Sonny Bill set to stay in New Zealand?

News: Carter commits future to New Zealand

Players/Officials: Steve Tew | Dan Carter | Richie McCaw

Tournaments/Tours: Rugby World Cup | Super Rugby

Teams: Crusaders | New Zealand

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has revealed that he is on the brink of joining team-mate Dan Carter in committing his playing future to New Zealand.

Carter put pen to paper on a new four-year deal with the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and the Crusaders on Wednesday, worth a reported NZ$6m (£2.9m), and McCaw is expected to follow suit in the coming days after giving the strongest indication yet that he would stay in the country after this year's Rugby World Cup.

"The reason I want to stay, and look to stay, is if I'm enjoying it. I've never made any bones about that," the 30-year-old McCaw told the New Zealand Herald. "I haven't played much this year and I'm keen to get out on the field and play. That's a good sign.

"I haven't signed yet because I haven't said anything yet but hopefully in the next week or so [we will] get things sorted. Still working through a couple of things but, [we're] getting pretty close which is good."

Meanwhile, Carter has revealed he turned down multi-million dollar deals from France and the UK in favour of re-signing with the NZRU, with a reported NZ$8.25 million (£4m) offer tabled by Top 14 side Racing Metro. But his contract does include the option of a sabbatical, which suggests a repeat of his brief spell in France with Perpignan in 2008-09 is likely at some point in the future.

"Yeah, I was pretty close to going," the 29-year-old told The Press. "It was a big decision, the toughest decision in my career so far. It wasn't easy because one day I felt I wanted to be going and the next I felt as if I wanted to stay - things like that. It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, these last six months.

"I was quite flattered with some of the figures I was getting out of France and the UK. Staying here and living here for the next few years is important to me, but I will tell you what: it [the money] does make that decision a lot tougher. There were a few good offers - from Racing Metro, Perpignan and even Bath were in there as well. I was pretty humbled by how much they were prepared to offer."

The NZRU did not release the details of Carter's contract but Warren Alcock, from Carter's management company, Essentially Group, said it had been the most comprehensive individual contract he had been involved in negotiating. "It has a level of detail and complexity that we haven't faced in New Zealand before," he said.

In related news, NZRU chief executive Steve Tew has dismissed claims the national body is sacrificing re-signing particular players so it can afford headline acts Carter and McCaw. "Yes, we have a certain amount of money to spend on players," Tew explained. "We've got a pretty comprehensive projection model in place...we have always factored in, at the level that we signed Dan on yesterday, Richie and Dan both staying, because that's the scenario that has the most financial stress in it.

"We are not sacrificing particular players to keep those two, but the reality is they have absorbed a percentage of the money we have got available. On the upside to that, we believe they are a pretty strong attraction to players wanting to stay. It also means that as of lunchtime yesterday, I can now talk to our commercial partners and potential commercial partners and say 'we have the world's best player in our stable for the next four years, how would you like to be a part of that?'. That generates more money. It's not a black and white issue."