New Zealand's Richie McCaw has been in reflective mood this week © Getty Images

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Richie McCaw considered standing down as All Blacks captain after their 2007 Rugby World Cup failure, before realising it was 'time to man up'.

McCaw will becomes the first player to lead his country in 100 Tests when New Zealand face Wales at Millennium Stadium on Saturday, but his reign would have stopped at 23 had he acted on his doubts in the wake of their quarter-final loss to France seven years ago - also in Cardiff.

"I questioned whether I was good enough to do it or the right person to do it," McCaw said this week, reflecting on a low point of his stellar career. He confided in his parents before a period of soul-searching as the fallout from the tournament swirled around him. Finally, he came to the realisation that he would have a lifetime of regret if he walked away from the job.

"You can either man up and get on with it or drift away and remember that experience as one you couldn't handle," he said. "Being the person I am, as soon as I thought like that I thought: 'There's no way I'd want to do that'. I remember one day I got over it and got on with it."

McCaw says the despair of the French loss made the victory over the same nation to lift the world title on home soil four years later considerably sweeter.

Current coach Steve Hansen was the assistant in 2007, and he wasn't surprised to learn of McCaw's uncertainty. "There were a lot of us questioning ourselves after '07 because we had a team that should have won it, but we stuffed it up."

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Hansen says McCaw is a considerably better captain now, something the 33-year-old concedes happily; McCaw believes the Cardiff meltdown was the catalyst for growth both on and off the field, saying he became hungrier to learn about leadership and has never tired of the pressure and commitments that come with one of the highest stations in world sport.

"I don't think you'd carry on doing it if you didn't want it," he said. "You've got to want to put yourself under the pressure that comes with it otherwise you wouldn't last."

Hansen says the evolution of a player leadership group around McCaw has made the job easier, and has been a key part of the All Blacks' success during the captain's nine-year stewardship. But he doesn't want to detract from the achievements of the 136-Test flanker, whose physical deeds and winning legacy are incomparable in rugby.

"He's grown into probably one of the great leaders of any sports team in the world," Hansen said.