Over to you, mate. Richie McCaw is now ready to hand the All Blacks captaincy over to his long-time colleague Kieran Read.

OPINION: There will be no panic. No consternation. No scratching of heads or furrowing of brows. No hasty meetings will be convened. No action plans actioned. Quite simply, Kieran Read will succeed his good mate Richie McCaw as All Blacks captain as naturally and inevitably as night following day.

Like pretty much everything the All Blacks do these days, the transition will be seamless, pain minimal and disruption non-existent when they embark on year one of LARM. (As in, Life After Richie McCaw.)

It might be a scary prospect for those in All Black fandom who fret over these things; but within the back-to-back world champions there will be nothing of the sort. This is an eventuality they've spent the last four years preparing for, and as the world knows when Steve Hansen's special group of men have ticked all the boxes they seldom, if ever, get caught short. .

In Read they have the perfect successor too − a man with so many of the qualities of the legend he replaces, a man who's been well and truly groomed and is as ready as ready can be to step in and assume the mantle of All Blacks captain.

It's just how they operate, on and off the rugby field. They don't get caught short, they don't get surprised. Those boxes get checked, plans entrenched and the show rolls on.

The vogue term is future-proofing. And these All Blacks, with their endless supply of talent and ability to keep on keeping on, are as future proofed as a sports team gets.

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Read has already had nine of his 84 test caps as captain − once in 2012, six times in 2013 and once each in 2014 and '15. He knows what the role entails, he's familiar with its demands, and he's comfortable with the extra pressures and responsibilities that go with it.

He's spent eight seasons in the All Blacks learning off the very best we've had, so there will be no surprises for Read, and certainly no issues for him to overcome. He's seen it all.

As a hardened, first-choice senior All Black and leader, he has the respect of every rugby player in New Zealand. And as a two-time World Cup winner, global player of the year in 2013 and, at his best, the most complete No 8 in the game, he has the mana to make this thing work.

Most importantly, as a savvy, intelligent, humble, hard-working and responsible individual, he has the tools to carry out one of the toughest jobs in New Zealand with a minimum of fuss.

And, at 30, he's in the prime of his rugby life and ready to deliver the benchmark performances that McCaw well and truly established as a by-product of the position.

Sure, the worry-warts may point to a slight drop-off in form for Read in 2015, and wonder whether he now commands his position as emphatically as he once did. In a team that reached a beautiful peak at the World Cup in England, the big No 8 was, at best, just a cog in the machine.

But fret not. If there has been a form slump from Read, it's minimal. Maybe he wasn't quite at a physical peak for the global tournament; maybe his role required him to be more a support act than the starring attraction. Maybe the game just didn't flow his way.

They're things only a select few within the All Blacks will know.

But Read remains an outstanding No 8, a game-changer at his best, a tough, hard-nosed individual, a no-nonsense operator and a calm and composed leader.

I would venture to suggest the captaincy might just light the fuse that sees him come into his own over the next four years, and that inevitable quest for a hat-trick of Webb Ellis Cup triumphs.

Some in sport shirk responsibility and crumble beneath its weight; Read has always struck me as someone who will be inspired by it. He has seen for himself just how McCaw led this group − with an unprecedented consistency of performance over 148 tests − and he will be ready to follow in those giant footsteps.

And, heaven forbid, if it doesn't quite work out, and if he can't quite recapture his best form as captain of this smooth-sailing ship, then the All Blacks will have that covered as well. They already have Victor Vito more than ready to deputise at No 8, and Akira Ioane on the fast track the next rung down. In terms of leadership, Jerome Kaino will be a trusty lieutenant meantime, and others such as young Sam Cane, Sam Whitelock, Vito and Ben Smith are ready to take on greater responsibilities in this special group.

It's the All Blacks. No man is an island. And no player leads alone. Future-proofed.