SO, who is the most successful test rugby player in history, the man who, whenever he puts on his country’s shirt, emerges triumphant more often than anyone else has ever done?

Richie McCaw? Dan Carter? Colin Meads? No, no and no.

On Wednesday, thanks to the diligent research of the Rugby World Cup News Service statistics wizards, we found our man.

It was a New Zealander, as you might expect, but one of their much more unsung foot soldiers — and when the news was broken to Wyatt Crockett that, statistically, he possessed the best winning record of any player in the history of the game who has won 30 caps or more, this stalwart prop forward was surprised.

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Crockett said, looking faintly embarrassed as his front-row colleagues sitting beside him on the press conference table laughed with delight.

Fellow prop Charlie Faumuina raised Crockett’s hand in triumph like a prizefighter while Keven Mealamu, wondering if his mate was the team’s lucky charm, just smiled and said: “I want to play if he’s playing!”

Crockett’s record, even in a team who have won three-quarters of all their Test matches, is something to behold. In 40 All Blacks Tests stretching back six years, he has lost in only one, at Twickenham against England in 2012. He was involved in one draw against Australia last year — and won the rest. That represents a 96.25 per cent win ratio, which puts him on top of the all-time list above his fellow All Blacks Aaron Cruden.