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'The midfield is where I want to end up': Julian Savea wants All Blacks No 12 jersey

(Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

Former All Blacks star Julian Savea says he wants to return to the New Zealand national side – but as a second-five rather than a wing.

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Speaking to NZ Rugby World, Savea outlined his ambitions to return to the test arena for the All Blacks as a midfielder, five years after his last outing for the New Zealand.

“The midfield is where I want to end up,” the 31-year-old said. “I want to be more of a playmaker, in behind the forwards, making the calls. The goal is to get back there [the All Blacks].  It’s why I’m trying to play the best rugby I can.”

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A powerful wing who scored 46 tries in 54 tests between 2012 and 2017, Savea has broadened his skillset and positional versatility since he last played for the All Blacks.

While his offshore move to Toulon was described by Savea as “often awful”, it led to a positional switch to second-five, where he played frequently for the French glamour club.

Upon his return to New Zealand two years ago, Savea continued to play there occasionally for Wellington and the Hurricanes, but has been used there just once in Super Rugby Pacific this season.

That appearance came against the Blues back in February, where he marked superstar All Blacks candidate Roger Tuivasa-Sheck as part of a midfield duo with Hurricanes standout Bailyn Sullivan.

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While he has barely featured at second-five for the Hurricanes, Savea’s comments that he is intent on playing there for the All Blacks are eye-catching given the uncertainty regarding who will play there for Ian Foster’s side.

With veteran midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown gone for virtually the whole season due to a shoulder injury, there is no outright frontrunner to partner with Rieko Ioane, who is widely tipped to start at centre for the All Blacks.

Quinn Tupaea was last week labelled as the “incumbent” for the role by former All Blacks hooker James Parsons, while David Havili picked to the play there regularly for New Zealand last year.

Both players featured prominently due to the absence of Jack Goodhue, the next most experienced midfielder in the country behind Ioane and Lienert-Brown who has just returned from a year-long, injury-induced sideline spell.

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Elsewhere, Tuivasa-Sheck’s progress in rugby union continues to grab headlines, Jordie Barrett looms as a potential midfield option, and uncapped pair Thomas Umaga-Jensen and Alex Nankivell both have the potential to be bolter selections.

Now on record with his aspirations of an All Blacks comeback in the midfield, Savea can now be added to that list of contenders, although his chances of selection may be impacted by his continual selection on the wing for the Hurricanes.

Savea has started there in eight of the franchise’s 12 matches this year, but could yet earn selection in the midfield in this week’s clash against the Rebels in Wellington on Saturday.

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3 Comments
R
Reyz 904 days ago

If I were to pick on form & a look to the future the Abs midfield would be:
Q.Tupaea, R.Ioane, L.Fainganuku, A.Nankevill though I also like the look of Bailyn Sullivan & RTS but think it's too early for him just yet

S
Shane 904 days ago

Leicester fainga'anuku needs to be considered too,hes a powerful midfielder too at 13 he plays with pure power and pace,and he could play 12 too and he would replicate a nonu type ball carrier

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Flankly 52 minutes ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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