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Savea's latest social media post suggests he's left the weekend's chaos behind him

Julian Savea in Barbarian colours

In spite of a torrent of abuse from Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal over the past week, Julian Savea does not appear to be phased by it.

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The All Black took to Twitter last week to respond to Boudjellal’s criticism of his attitude and form after a loss to Agen. He said that he is going to continue working at Toulon, but the owner came out again and lambasted the winger and the wages he demands.

However, Savea took to Instagram again today to post a picture of him in the gym in a Toulon vest. His caption read “Putting in the hard yards”:

View this post on Instagram

Putting in the hard yards with ol’ mate here ?????

A post shared by Julian Savea (@juliansavea7) on

This once again shows the perfect attitude from the 28-year-old, and is a sign that he is planning on fighting for a place and form at Toulon. The French club certainly need an improvement from somewhere, as they currently sit in 11th place in the Top 14 after an abject season so far.

Savea has only managed one try since joining the three-time European title winners, as his form has severely slumped over the past few years. This stemmed from the 2017 Lions series, where Savea came under some criticism and was omitted from the first two tests by Steve Hansen. Since then he has not scored for the All Blacks, and fell completely out of favour, ushering a move to Toulon.

It looked to be a certainty at one time that Savea would become the All Blacks’ highest try scorer. The former Hurricane is tied in second with Joe Rokocoko and Christian Cullen with 46 tries, only three behind Doug Howlett. His haul of tries has only come in 54 test appearances, which is an amazing conversion rate.

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There is nothing to say that Savea will not work his way back into the All Blacks, and he is showing the right attitude.

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GrahamVF 1 hour ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

"has SA actually EVER helped to develop another union to maturity like NZ has with Japan," yes - Argentina. You obviously don't know the history of Argentinian rugby. SA were touring there on long development tours in the 1950's

We continued the Junior Bok tours to the Argentine through to the early 70's

My coach at Grey High was Giepie Wentzel who toured Argentine as a fly half. He told me about how every Argentinian rugby club has pictures of Van Heerden and Danie Craven on prominent display. Yes we have developed a nation far more than NZ has done for Japan. And BTW Sa players were playing and coaching in Japan long before the Kiwis arrived. Fourie du Preez and many others were playing there 15 years ago.


"Isaac Van Heerden's reputation as an innovative coach had spread to Argentina, and he was invited to Buenos Aires to help the Pumas prepare for their first visit to South Africa in 1965.[1][2] Despite Argentina faring badly in this tour,[2] it was the start of a long and happy relationship between Van Heerden and the Pumas. Izak van Heerden took leave from his teaching post in Durban, relocated to Argentina, learnt fluent Spanish, and would revolutionise Argentine play in the late 1960s, laying the way open for great players such as Hugo Porta.[1][2] Van Heerden virtually invented the "tight loose" form of play, an area in which the Argentines would come to excel, and which would become a hallmark of their playing style. The Pumas repaid the initial debt, by beating the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park, and emerged as one of the better modern rugby nations, thanks largely to the talents of this Durban schoolmaster.[1]"


After the promise made by Junior Springbok manager JF Louw at the end of a 12-game tour to Argentina in 1959 – ‘I will do everything to ensure we invite you to tour our country’ – there were concerns about the strength of Argentinian rugby. South African Rugby Board president Danie Craven sent coach Izak van Heerden to help the Pumas prepare and they repaid the favour by beating the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park.

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