Rugby World Cup
Richie McCaw 'greatest All Black', Dan Carter close second: New Zealand coach Steve Hansen
Tom Hamilton
October 31, 2015
How do you replace Carter and McCaw?

TWICKENHAM, London -- New Zealand coach Steve Hansen stopped short of labelling this All Blacks vintage as the best ever but did herald Richie McCaw as the country's greatest player following their 34-17 win over Australia in the Rugby World Cup final.

McCaw and the All Blacks are now the first to win back-to-back titles following their 2011 triumph and Saturday night's defeat of Australia.

Dan Carter was awarded Man of the Match for a performance that saw him score 19 points including a remarkable drop-goal when the Wallabies were getting a foothold in the match.

New Zealand 34-17 Australia (Australia only)
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Carter and McCaw are expected to be two of six All Blacks who are unlikely to play for the famous side again and Hansen said their captain is the country's greatest player with Carter a close second.

"It's up to other people to say whether this is the greatest All Black team of all time, but I can say a bit about the players," said Hansen.

"Yes, I think Richie is probably the greatest All Black we have ever had and Dan is a close second. The only thing that probably separates them is that one is a flanker and you shouldn't play 148 Test matches as a flanker. That's unheard of. You put your body on the line every time you play in there.

New Zealand's Richie McCaw lifts the Webb Ellis Cup © Getty Images
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"There was a lot of talk going into this game about the loose forward trio but without wishing to be disrespectful to the other guys who I thought played very well, I think our trio tonight won that battle. Richie was the leader of our trio.

"We're very fortunate to have players like that. The opportunity will come now for someone else now to show they're better than Richie or better than Dan. They're both great players."

Are New Zealand the best team ever?
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And Hansen also paid tribute to Australia, saying: "On behalf of myself and the team, I thought Australia were magnificent in the way they approached the game. They did not lay down and at 21-3 you could be fooled the game was over but they came back.

"We'd like to acknowledge them for being the opponents they were. While we're very proud of what we achieved, we'd like to say well done to Australia."

McCaw also praised the work Hansen has done for New Zealand.

"Steve's led the way in terms of attitude in what this team is trying to do. The standards are set from the top and it makes it easy to follow those on.

"In 2012, after the last World Cup, it would have been easy to roll into that year but the standard was set high again with the world champion tag. That's been the attitude right the way through and 12 months ago the focus was on these last six weeks with the relentless desire to be better and to keep on improving. We also wanted to add to the legacy."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Tom Hamilton is the Associate Editor of ESPNscrum.

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