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Ardie Savea fires back: 'Do you feel like we haven't been dominating?'

Ardie Savea. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Ardie Savea has baulked at suggestions that the All Blacks loose forwards have been dominated by the opposition this year.

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Savea, perhaps the best performer for the under-fire New Zealand side throughout their season to date, was asked on Thursday what the key was to getting back some of the dominance the loose forwards have shown in the past and the part-time captain seemed perplexed at the implication that his unit has been underperforming in 2022.

“I’m not too sure,” he responded. “Do you feel like we haven’t been dominating the last couple of games?

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“I felt like the loosies have been fronting up, and we’re just trying to navigate the space of a new breed of players. I think for so long New Zealand’s been used to Reado [Kieran Read], the McCaws [Richie McCaw], the Jeromes [Jerome Kaino], that have been amazing and you’ve got a bunch of new boys coming through, and us that are trying to stamp their mark.

“So it’s a day-to-day, week-to-week process. But I feel like we’re tracking well, and we’re putting our best foot forward.”

Savea has started every match of the year wearing the No 8 jersey but has at times shifted into the openside flanker role when captain Sam Cane has departed the field late in matches. With Cane a regular at No 7, Akira Ioane, Dalton Papali’i and now Shannon Frizell have shared responsibilities on the blindside flank.

While there have certainly been times throughout the year where the trio as a whole haven’t necessarily muscled up to their opposition – specifically in the two defeats suffered at the hands of Ireland in July – the group has functioned well in their two most recent outings against the Springboks and Pumas.

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The All Blacks coaches have kept faith with the same trio from the past two fixtures (and, in fact, have kept faith with the entire starting XV for a third game on the trot) and while next year’s World Cup will certainly be in the back of their mind, Savea says the players are very much focussed on the here and now.

“You can say it’s important to build the chemistry around that in terms of thinking of next year [but] mate, I’m thinking about today, pretty much, and this weekend,” he said.

“It’s important to build combinations, but at the same time, you’ve got to perform under those pressure moments, and if you don’t, then things can happen.”

Frizell, Cane and Savea will run out as a loose forward trio for the third time this year and the fourth time in total when they take on the Pumas on Saturday, with the group also featuring in the 2020 defeat to Argentina in Sydney.

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3 Comments
F
Flatcoat 839 days ago

Ardie. Foster's yes man.." navigating the space of a new breed of players " more Foster non speak. At least he is able to teach Ardie something.

D
David 839 days ago

AB’s have gone from having 3 all time greats in the back row to having one extremely good player, one lightweight, and one “wait and see”.

There is a lack of directness and power at 12 (they miss Nonu unsurprisingly) which means the back row aren’t consistently playing on the front foot with momentum.

Is anyone surprised that they’re not the same side?

A
Andrew 839 days ago

Yes. Next question?

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Tom 4 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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