New Zealand's most photogenic rugby player revealed

Some players make better photography subjects than others. That’s less to do with their looks and more to do with their behaviour, however.

According to Getty Photos photographer Hannah Peters, Ardie Savea is the best target during matches while his Hurricanes teammate TJ Perenara isn’t far behind.

“Ardie Savea is always good,” Peters told Stuff. “He always breaks the first tackle, or makes big tackles. He’s just really explosive and unique to shoot.”

The Sky Sports NZ team talk about all the action from round one of the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition.

The Sky Sports NZ team talk about all the action from round one of the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition.

“Ardie is probably my favourite because he’s got a good personality off the field as well. The way he plays the game it comes out. He’s often got a new hairstyle or stuff going on. There’s something about him.”

Savea was sidelined for the initial Super Rugby competition that kicked off in January but made his first return to the field on Sunday afternoon when the Hurricanes weren’t defeated by the Blues.

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Savea joined the fray late in the second half and didn’t have too many picture-perfect moments for photographers to capture but that’s always likely to be the case when you haven’t played a game of pro rugby in eight months.

Perenara, by contrast, started the match as one of the Hurricanes’ co-captains and had a typically busy afternoon, but it’s as much about his off-the-ball work that makes him such a good subject to capture.

“TJ Perenara is also good,” Peters said. “He’s good when he doesn’t have the ball and is off the play because he’s always chatting, yelling at the ref or doing something else. So, you can always keep an eye on him.”

Peters also listed Blues flanker Tom Robinson as one of her favourite players to snap.

While Peters has 390 photos of Savea on the Getty Images site and 343 of Perenara, there are more photos of Beauden Barrett (919) than Peters’ two favourites put together. Barrett is Peters’ most snapped current All Black while Aaron Smith (457) sits in second – followed by Savea.

Perenara and Savea will both start against the Crusaders in today’s Super Rugby Aotearoa match down in Christchurch.