What does it take to be a good captain?

Richie Mccaw, the all black captain.

Well before i go into that I'm going to break the most common myth's concerning being a captain, you don't need to be the best player on your team!
Being the captain is so much more than being the best, and the best doesn't always have what it takes to be a captain, but I would say that it is important that the captain is a good player and has a descent knowledge of the game because the captain will at times have to make important decisions and needs to know the game to make the best decision they can; aswell as that they need to have the respect of the players and its unlikely a bad player will have that.


Okay so what attributes does a good captain need?

- The respect of your team, this is important in any leadership roll, so how do you get them to respect you?
The most important thing is to try to have a good relationship with the whole team, you always have to have a carm head on because you may at times get frustrated at your team mates but its important to always be supportive, so if someone does something stupid tell them not to worry about it and if there's fighting within the team sort it out, if you keep the team toghether, even when you're team's getting annihilated, you will find that they will respect you for it.

- Respect the ref, we're not footballer's! I've had some very crap ref's but i know that nothing ever good come's about by answering back, being rude etc. so as much as it pain's you always be respectful towards the ref.

- Always keep you head up, If you drop you head when your team's losing then so will the rest of your team so always keep plugging away so that even if you lose you can be proud of your performance and if your teammate's are giving up, give them a boot up the backside!