McCaw Fit to Start Against the Stormers

All Black Richie McCaw looks to have won his race against time to prove his fitness ahead of the Crusaders play-off semi-final clash against the Stormers.

The flanker has been named in the squad for the game on Saturday after being forced to sit out of the action since the ‘Saders loss against the Reds in May with a foot injury.

The problem arose when screws inserted into McCaw’s foot to help a metatarsal injury heal began to irritate the talismanic loose forward, meaning he missed the finale of the Super Rugby season and the semi-final qualifier against the Sharks last week.

However he should start the game in Cape Town ahead of stand-in Matt Todd   between the two respective conference winners, while Crusaders head coach Todd Blackadder received a further boost when fellow loose forward Kieran Read was cleared to start after picking up an ankle knock against the Sharks.

Meanwhile Blackadder’s assistant Daryl Gibson has backed McCaw’s international colleague Dan Carter to recapture his sparkling form from earlier in the season.

“He's one of those players who, because he does everything so well, sometimes it is not noticed just how good he is.” Gibson said of the adidas R15 boots wearer.

"If you look at a number of other first-fives who are playing with a lot more flair, they also make a lot more mistakes. We tend to forget that Dan very rarely makes mistakes."

“He's been doing a fantastic job leading this side along with Richie (McCaw) and Kieran (Read). The one area which has probably really grown this year is his leadership ability."

"He is a very good running five-eighth but at times I guess if you have other guys such as Robbie Fruean and Sonny and Zac Guildford around you, you can tend to take on less yourself and let them have the ball," he added.