In the 1980s, New Zealand had a reasonably successful cricket side - largely thanks to one man.
He was tallish, was extremely accurate in what he was employed to do, and when he got injured, which was thankfully not often, the New Zealand side was much less threatening.
Now, skip forward 20 years and it is another Cantabrian called Richard who is bringing those same qualities to our national winter sporting team.
This Richard - McCaw, not Hadlee - is this side's biggest weapon.
The man for a big play.
If McCaw is on his game tonight, and there is no reason he should not be, then he should be the one lifting the Tri-Nations trophy about midnight tonight.
He seems to bring out the best of those around him and has grown considerably in the captaincy ranks in the last year.
But really, this is a test for New Zealand to lose.
In its only large test loss this year, against Australia in Sydney, the game was lost by the All Blacks because of a naive game plan, and a butterfingered performance by many players.
Australia may say it dominated that game but it was allowed to, with the All Blacks trying to run their way out of trouble, which simply does not work under the new rules.
In this game, unless they throw the game plan out the window, the All Blacks will not be running the ball out of their own half.
Remember the All Blacks bowled the Wallabies the last time the sides met, and backed that up by keeping the Springboks scoreless in a gutsy win in Cape Town.
The Wallabies are coming off a 50-point hiding against the Springboks, their best lineout forward is missing and their halfback is old and slow.
But games are not about who won over whom last week and who is not playing.
If they were we would have four - maybe five - World Cups.
But McCaw should turn up, the rest will get in behind him, and we should win.
Robbie Deans is a smart coach, but a good coach is only as good as his or her players. Coaches do not play the game.
They plan, sometimes wrongly, as the Sydney test showed, but the men who run on to the field decide the match.
That is what it should come down to. Our players are better than the guys in yellow. And that should equate to a win.
Surely.
