William Alexander McCaw (26 August 1927 – 6 May 2025) was a New Zealand international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He was a member of the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

in 1951 and in 1953–54, playing in the number 8 and flanker positions.Palenski, Ron (2007) ''The All Blackography'', Hodder Moa, p. 287.

Early life

McCaw was born in Gore and educated at St. Kevin's College, Oamaru where he played rugby for the school.

Senior rugby

McCaw played for the Marist club and represented Southland from 1949 until 1955. He played for the South Island team in the years 1950–54 and was a New Zealand trialist in 1950, 1951 and 1953 and 1957. He played in a New Zealand XV in 1952 and 1954–55.

All Black

McCaw was selected for the All Blacks in 1951. He played against in the 1951 tour of Australia and played in all three tests. He could not play because of injury in 1952. In 1953 he was selected again and participated in the 1953–1954 British tour. He played in 22 of 36 matches including the Welsh and French tests. He was captain of the All Blacks in the game against North of Scotland. In all McCaw played 32 matches for the All Blacks, 5 of them were tests. He gained 18 points for New Zealand (6 tries). With the death of

Roy Roper Roy Alfred Roper (11 August 1923 – 14 September 2023) was a New Zealand rugby union player. A Rugby union positions#Three-quarters, three-quarter, Roper represented Taranaki Rugby Football Union, Taranaki at a provincial level, and was a memb ...

in 2023, McCaw became the oldest living All Black. McCaw died in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

on 6 May 2025, at the age of 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCaw, Bill 1927 births 2025 deaths New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players People educated at St Kevin's College, Oamaru Sportspeople from Gore, New Zealand Southland rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from the Southland Region