RICHIE McCaw, the inspirational All Blacks captain, admits he expects Wales to come at them with all guns blazing at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, writes Robin Davey.

The rivals will meet for the 25th time, Wales winning just three, the last way back in 1953. But they led 9-6 at half-time last year as the crowd lifted them on the back of a stand-off at the end of the haka.

“Wales come at you with a lot of passion and they pile into things. It won’t be much different this time,” said McCaw, who captains New Zealand for the 41st time.

“All our boys were pretty pumped up and the crowd were excited after what happened with the haka last year, but it was a great spectacle.

“The Millennium Stadium is one of my favourite grounds, if not the favourite, the atmosphere is pretty awesome and we’re expecting another tough game.

“Over the last few years games against Wales have been better challenges, especially last year when we didn’t get away until the last few minutes. We’re expecting the same this time.”

McCaw, who is 29 on New Year’s Eve, singled out opposite number Martyn Williams, who is five years older, and centre Jamie Roberts as players to watch.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Martyn, he’s played a lot of Test match rugby (he wins his 89th cap on Saturday) and he’s been around a long time. The games I’ve played against him have been a good challenge. He plays with style and is a very good link man, good in defence which serves the team well.

“Jamie Roberts had a great tour with the Lions and he gave them a lot of go forward against the Springboks.

“He’s a big man and he’s a guy we’ll keep an eye on.

“I was really impressed by the Lions and was surprised how well they played, they could have won the series. They played a pretty good brand of rugby and put the Springboks under a lot of pressure, the Welsh players had quite an influence on that.”