Richard Hugh "Richie" McCaw (born 31 December 1980 in Oamaru, North Otago) is a New Zealand rugby union player, and is the current test captain. He plays in the openside flanker position for the New Zealand, Crusaders and Canterbury rugby teams. McCaw is considered one of the best openside flankers of all time, with his ability to anticipate play and adaptability to the referee's rulings two of his key attributes. He was raised in rural North Otago, before moving to Dunedin in 1994 to board at Otago Boys' High School. In 1999 he moved to Christchurch to study at Lincoln University and was selected in the national under-19 rugby union team. The following year he played for the Under 21s and Canterbury in the National Provincial Championship, before debuting in 2001 for the Crusaders in Super Rugby.

McCaw was selected for the 2001 New Zealand National Rugby Team's end-of-year tour, despite having played only a total of eight minutes of Super 14 rugby. His debut for the All Blacks was against Ireland, where he put in a man-of-the-match performance and was selected as New Zealand's first choice open-side flanker for the 2003 World Cup. McCaw became a regular selection in the New Zealand national rugby team, only missing a few games due to reoccurring concussions. In 2006 he was named captain of the All Blacks. He led the All Blacks at the 2007 World Cup and his captaincy came under criticism after they were knocked out in the quarter-final. He continued to captain the All Blacks and lead the team to victory in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Cory Steven Jane (born 8 February 1983) is a New Zealand international rugby union player.

He first played for the All Blacks in 2008 and plays as a winger. In 2011 Jane was selected into the Tri Nations team as injury cover. A few weeks later he made the Rugby World cup squad of 30 after tight competition in the back 3.

Born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, Jane plays for Wellington in the Air New Zealand Cup and for the Wellington Hurricanes in the Super Rugby (formerly Super 12/14) competition. He has previously played for Hawke's Bay and was in the New Zealand team that won the Rugby Sevens gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He represented the New Zealand Maori rugby union team in 2006.

Jane was 3rd-equal on the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup leading try scorer list with 6 tries, behind Richard Kahui (8 tries) and Sitiveni Sivivatu (7 tries), both from Waikato.

He won the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup with the All Blacks.

Daniel William "Dan" Carter (born (1982-03-05)5 March 1982) is a New Zealand rugby union player.

He is currently the highest points scorer in test match rugby and is regarded as one of rugby's greatest ever fly-halves.

Carter was born on 5 March 1982 in Southbridge, a small town in the South Island of New Zealand, to Neville and Bev Carter, and has one older sister, Sarah. From the age of 5, he played with Southbridge Rugby Club as a scrum half. He attended Ellesmere College and Christchurch Boys High School, and has said he was a shy and quiet young man who kept grand aspirations to himself. His great uncle was Canterbury and New Zealand half back Bill Dalley, a member of the 1924–25 Invincibles and later a Canterbury rugby administrator.

Scott Higginbotham (born 5 September 1986 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian rugby union player. He currently plays for the Queensland Reds in the international Super Rugby competition. He can play anywhere in the backrow.

Higginbotham was the Reds academy player of 2007 and made his Super 14 debut the following year against the Bulls. Within seconds of making his debut he made a bone crunching tackle on former IRB player of the year Bryan Habana.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2010 Higginbotham was named as a reserve for Australia to play South Africa in Pretoria, However, be didn't play in that game, but played his first Test when he came of the bench for the Wallabies 59-16 thumping of France.^{[citation needed]} He got his first Wallabies start in the 2011 Tri Nations Series victory over South Africa in Durban. Up until May 2012, he played 11 Tests for Australia.

In May 2012, Higginbotham signed to join the Melbourne Rebels for a two year contract, commencing 2013. With the Rebels preparing for the departure of captain and No. 8 Gareth Delve at the end of 2012, Higginbotham was expected to bring size and versatility to the Rebels loose-forwards. Rebels coach Damien Hill said that "If you look at Scott, in particular, you've got one of the best ball-running, lineout jumping options in Australian rugby."