Richie McCaw Won 131 of His 148 Test Matches

Richie McCaw played a then-world-record 148 Tests for New Zealand and won 131 of them, a rate of nearly nine in ten. He captained the All Blacks 110 times and is the first man to win the Rugby World Cup twice as captain.

He debuted in 2001 and retired after the 2015 final, fourteen years in the most physically punishing position on the field. He was named World Rugby Player of the Year three times, in 2006, 2009 and 2010, which no other player has managed. An 88 percent win rate over 148 Tests is not a run of form, it is a career spent almost never losing.

The 2011 and 2015 World Cups are the centerpiece. New Zealand had gone 24 years without winning the tournament despite being the best team in the world for most of it, and the failure had become the defining anxiety of the sport in that country. McCaw captained the side that ended it at home in 2011, playing the knockout stages on a broken foot, then captained the side that defended it at Twickenham in 2015, the first team to retain the trophy.

His actual craft was the breakdown, the contest for the ball immediately after a tackle, where the laws are written vaguely enough that the advantage goes to whoever understands them best. McCaw lived precisely on the legal line for a decade, slowing opposition ball, winning turnovers and drawing penalties, and referees ended up interpreting the ruck partly around what he was doing.

That is also the strongest criticism of him: opposition supporters spent his whole career arguing he was offside and getting away with it, and the honest answer is that he frequently was. Dan Carter is the finest fly-half the game has produced, its leading Test points scorer, and was the more naturally gifted player of the two. Jonah Lomu changed the commercial reality of rugby single-handedly and remains its most destructive runner, without ever winning a World Cup. Brian O'Driscoll dragged weaker Irish teams further than they had any right to go.

Carter has the talent and Lomu has the impact. McCaw has two World Cups as captain, three world player awards and 131 wins, which is the most any rugby player has been part of.

The verdict: McCaw for the winning. Carter for the artistry. Lomu for raw impact.