SINGLE MINDED

Any player who enjoys a career that extends beyond a decade tend to have to significantly evolve to survive that long.

It's the nature of the business. Rugby is too physical, too demanding for a player to come in to the test arena in their early 20s and play the same style of football all the way through to their mid-30s.

Dan Carter had two distinct parts to his career. He was a vibrant, running No 10 between 2003 and 2011 and then a tactical controller between 2012 and 2015. Injury took an obvious toll on him in the last four years of his career.

Richie McCaw was a continual work in progress and from being all about the turnovers for much of his career, by the end he was a ball carrier and tackler, almost a second blindside flanker.

Tana Umaga started life as a try-scoring wing and finished it as a bruising second five. Michael Jones was a dynamic openside in stage one of his career and a crushing No 6 in the second.

Adaptation is the key to longevity and it shouldn't be seen as something easy to pull off either. Being able to successfully change roles takes enormous dedication and perseverance. Only special players