Richie McCaw gave a frank account of how he plays the referees as well as the opposition to be a nuisance to his opponents.
McCaw has been albelled a 'cheat' pretty much since he forced his first turnover on the international stage, but he said on Thursday he knows just when to push and just when to stop when it comes to the boundaries of the laws and the interpretations.
"If you go in gun shy you're not going to have an impact," McCaw told media as he prepares to tackle Australia in Melbourne this weekend.
"I think the big thing is to understand where you sit and what you're going to get away with and what you're not.
"As long as you're not putting the team under heaps of pressure you've got to still be at the point of knowing what you can get away with and what you can't and the odd thing you might get wrong."
McCaw has been under increased scrutiny (when was he ever not) after the last Test against the Boks in Wellington, when he was warned three times by referee Alain Rolland but not yellow-carded.
South African fans were furious that McCaw appeared to have got away with murder, something McCaw said was simply not his problem.
"I think I gave away four penalties or it might have been five and there were a couple of them I was disappointed with."
"How do I say it? What I think is right and what he (the ref) thinks is right could be different so you've got to figure it out pretty quickly.
"I always think the things I'm trying to do are the right things and if he's penalising me for some reason I think 'geez I'm not going to get away with that today' or 'that's not going to work with this ref'.
"Each ref is a little bit different. I have a fairly good understanding of where they'll sit, just through experiences."
McCaw was also asked as to whether his position as captain affected the way referees handled him.
"I wouldn't have thought so. They pride themselves on making sure they call it the same way no matter who it is. There are times I get it the other way perhaps," continued McCaw.
"I do know what they are going to do and I always have a yarn in the shed before the game as to what they've seen previously or if they have got ay concerns. Hopefully they'll tell me if they think I'm getting it all wrong."
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_6284241,00.html
McCaw has been albelled a 'cheat' pretty much since he forced his first turnover on the international stage, but he said on Thursday he knows just when to push and just when to stop when it comes to the boundaries of the laws and the interpretations.
"If you go in gun shy you're not going to have an impact," McCaw told media as he prepares to tackle Australia in Melbourne this weekend.
"I think the big thing is to understand where you sit and what you're going to get away with and what you're not.
"As long as you're not putting the team under heaps of pressure you've got to still be at the point of knowing what you can get away with and what you can't and the odd thing you might get wrong."
McCaw has been under increased scrutiny (when was he ever not) after the last Test against the Boks in Wellington, when he was warned three times by referee Alain Rolland but not yellow-carded.
South African fans were furious that McCaw appeared to have got away with murder, something McCaw said was simply not his problem.
"I think I gave away four penalties or it might have been five and there were a couple of them I was disappointed with."
"How do I say it? What I think is right and what he (the ref) thinks is right could be different so you've got to figure it out pretty quickly.
"I always think the things I'm trying to do are the right things and if he's penalising me for some reason I think 'geez I'm not going to get away with that today' or 'that's not going to work with this ref'.
"Each ref is a little bit different. I have a fairly good understanding of where they'll sit, just through experiences."
McCaw was also asked as to whether his position as captain affected the way referees handled him.
"I wouldn't have thought so. They pride themselves on making sure they call it the same way no matter who it is. There are times I get it the other way perhaps," continued McCaw.
"I do know what they are going to do and I always have a yarn in the shed before the game as to what they've seen previously or if they have got ay concerns. Hopefully they'll tell me if they think I'm getting it all wrong."
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_6284241,00.html