Rugby Union - Rugby World Cup 2023 - Pool A - New Zealand v Italy - Groupama Stadium, Lyon, France - September 29, 2023 New Zealand's Sam Whitelock during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Paul Childs/file photo
PARIS (Reuters) - New Zealand's defensive effort through 37 phases at the end of their quarter-final win over Ireland will go down in All Blacks folklore and it has also kept Sam Whitelock on the path to becoming the first player to win three World Cups.
It was the 35-year-old replacement lock, his trademark beard now as much grey as black, who locked his hands on the ball to earn the penalty that won the game.
Drawing on the experience of 151 tests, Whitelock bided his time until the exact moment when he could pilfer the ball and not give away a penalty that would have put his team under more pressure.
"The ball wasn't there to take a number of times and we had to wait for the moment and then execute really well," defence coach Scott McLeod explained on Sunday.
"Sam Whitelock put himself in the position twice to do that, and so did Ardie Savea, and we finally got it after those 37 phases so the boys are really happy with it."
Richie McCaw, who captained Whitelock to his first two World Cup wins in 2011 and 2015 and whose New Zealand appearance record the big lock broke earlier in the tournament, thought his longevity in the All Blacks engine room was remarkable.
"Amazing," McCaw told Reuters in Paris. "To play that long as a forward you've got to do a lot of things right and be pretty dedicated and persevere through things that don't go your way.
"He's certainly someone who's done that and even though he's on the bench, his performance is still as good as it's always been."
McCaw was speaking alongside another great warrior of the game, former France captain Thierry Dusautoir, at the launch of the documentary Rivals Les Bleus which features both players and will be streamed on the NZR+ platform.
While McCaw won the World Player of the Year award three times and Dusautoir once, Whitelock has never even been nominated for the game's highest individual award.
Thirteen years at the elite level in one of the most competitive environments in sport assured Whitelock of a place in the pantheon of the sport whether he ends up as the first three-times world champion or not, his former captain said.
"Still a long way to go, but to stand alone as the most capped All Black and the only person who's ever won three World Cups would be a hell of an achievement," he said.
"Regardless of whether that happens, to play that long and at the quality he has played, he's one of the greats of the game."
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Miral Fahmy)
