He played for the Brumbies in the Super Rugby, and Warringah in Sydney, and represented Australia at various age grade levels before a senior debut in 2010.

McCabe first started out professionally with the New South Wales Waratahs academy in 2006, where he participated on a development tour of England and Ireland.

His eye-catching displays for Australia in the Under-19's, earned himself selection for the Central Coast Rays in the inaugural and final season of the Australian Rugby Championship.

[5] Having been selected for the Australian Sevens team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, McCabe was forced to put on hold his Wallabies dream.

But an injury sustained the USA match, force McCabe to withdraw from the squad and was not expected to take any further part in the World Cup.

[citation needed] But despite damaging his shoulder, McCabe returned just two weeks later as one of the key figures of Australia’s epic 11–9 shut-out of the defending champions South Africa in the tournament quarter-final.

Incredibly, he then topped the team tackle count again a week later against New Zealand in the semi-final, despite being on the field for just the opening 47 minutes of the game, before his shoulder finally gave way and off-season surgery was required.

He played in 17 out of 18 matches that season, helping the team to an Australian derby semi-final against the eventual champions New South Wales Waratahs.

His form throughout the 2014 Super Rugby Season, saw McCabe selected for the first time by Ewen McKenzie, where he played twice of the bench during the French Test Series.

[11] Then on 28 August, Pat McCabe confirmed his retirement saying "it wasn't a particularly hard decision" after suffering a third neck fracture in less than two years.