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'Incredibly disappointed': NZR left fuming as Ardie Savea continues to neglect mouthguard duties

(Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)

New Zealand Rugby says it is “incredibly disappointed” in All Blacks star Ardie Savea’s refusal to wear a mouthguard, an instance that occurred yet again in Bledisloe Cup IV last weekend.

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Savea was spotted without the protective equipment during New Zealand’s 24-22 defeat to the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday, less than a month after he was condemned by NZR for not wearing a mouthguard during Bledisloe Cup II at Eden Park.

In doing so, the 47-test loose forward has broken the NZR players’ collective agreement, whereby players have agreed “to wear a mouthguard in the course of playing” under section 53 of the 2019-2020 document.

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After Savea failed to wear a mouthguard last month, NZR general manager of professional rugby and performance Chris Lendrum issued a statement to Stuff at the time, which read: “We are aware of the issue and will be working through it with all our players.”

When asked of Savea’s latest indiscretion at Suncorp Stadium, Lendrum said he wasn’t aware of the issue, but labelled it as “incredibly disappointing”.

“I didn’t see that myself but if that’s the case then that’s obviously incredibly disappointing,” he told Stuff on Wednesday.

“We expect our professional players to set the standard and role model for all of our players in the community and their whanau.

“If that’s the case we’ll look into it, and we’ve obviously already raised this issue in recent times with the All Blacks and with our Super Rugby teams and Mitre 10 Cup teams, so we’ll do that again, and we’ll have to do that pretty seriously if we’ve got repeat offenders.”

That suggests Savea could be in line for some stern words from his employers given his long track record of not wearing a mouthguard during games.

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In 2013, Savea and Wellington teammate Tomasi Palu was sent from the field by referee Nick Briant to retrieve a mouthguard after they were caught without one during a match against Canterbury.

Then aged 19, Savea was unaware mouthguards were compulsory, and promised to wear one after having stopped doing so due to breathing difficulties.

“I feel like I need to wear one now,” he said after he was given his marching orders seven years ago.

“I know the refs are going to start enforcing it from now on, so I will be getting one fitted ASAP.

“That was bad on my behalf. It is a good thing they are cracking down and forcing the players to wear one. It is not a good example for young players to follow.”

Savea was criticised by Lendrum three years later after he and five other teammates – Ben Smith, Malakai Fekitoa, Waisake Naholo, Dane Coles and Tawera Kerr-Barlow – were seen not wearing mouthguards while playing for the All Blacks against Wales.

Just a fortnight after that, Savea, Coles and Vaea Fifita were all spotted without the protective equipment while playing for the Hurricanes against the Blues.

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Tom 5 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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