New Zealand captain Richie McCaw to announce retirement this week following historic World Cup win

Richie McCaw will walk away from rugby on his own terms this week as a double World Cup-winning New Zealand captain and boasting a record 148 tests – 111 as captain.

New Zealand rugby chief executive Steve Chew has revealed that McCaw, who is certain to be knighted, will be making an announcement on his playing future "shortly".

Chew said: "He wanted to go into 2015 and enjoy playing the year without really worrying about whether everything he did was the last time he did it. He didn't want the team distracted by that and now he has asked for a little bit more time before finally making a decision and announcement.

"He won't be too far away from getting to that point and if we give him a little more space and have a little more patience we'll all be rewarded with the ultimate answer shortly."

A decision was widely expected to be announced following the All Blacks World Cup victory, but he has remained non-committal on the subject.

The 34-year-old led his team to two consecutive Rugby World Cup titles in 2011 and 2015, becoming the first side in history to retain the Webb Ellis Trophy.

McCaw will end his career with a test win record of 88 per cent.