New Zealand captain Richie McCaw will reportedly confirm his retirement from international rugby union this week.

The flanker led the All Blacks to their third Rugby World Cup triumph when they beat Australia at Twickenham last month.

According to the New Zealand Herald, McCaw will make that announcement on Thursday and NZRU chief executive Steve Tew told the publication that the veteran forward is not far away from "getting to that point".

Tew 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."

The All Blacks were the first team to retain the Rugby World Cup, when they beat the Wallabies 34-17 in the final.