Respected specialist website Planet Rugby has named their favoured XV from a year that saw the international game dominated by the All Blacks again as they swept to back to back World Cup titles.
But there was no room for sentimentality for McCaw who stepped away from the game in the wake of that success, with record numbers next to his name.
McCaw was nominated for the No 7 jersey but it was awarded to Springboks and Bath flanker Francois Louw, whose record tackle count at the World Cup and in English club play got him the nod.