Former All Blacks scrumhalf Piri Weepu says he struggled to get Richie McCaw to commit to leading the haka.

Weepu said he'd always glance at McCaw in the hope he'd step up.

'I used to tell Richie to try and lead the haka, and he'd always look at me like 'nah, nah, nah.'

'I always wanted him to lead it while I was there.

'Basically, if you were in the team and you were Maori, you had the mantle to lead the haka.'

While McCaw has led the All Blacks in a haka, team protocol was to have a player with Maori heritage to take the lead.