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Watch: Julian Savea returns to Wellington and scores against the Hurricanes
By Ned Lester
After a decade of service to the Hurricanes, Julian Savea was understandably expecting to depart the club on his terms. He wasn’t expecting to find himself searching for a new club as soon as a new coach came in who wanted to prioritise the club’s young talent.
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But, that’s exactly what happened over the offseason and now the former All Black is donning new colours and a new number, lining up for Moana Pasifika in the midfield.
Having represented Wellington for 153 Super Rugby games, Savea returned to his hometown on Friday for a final pre-season contest ahead of the 2024 season.
Savea spoke bluntly of the discussions – or lack thereof – he had with the club when looking to extend his career in the famous yellow.
“I was pretty pissed off, to be honest, but that’s rugby and they’ve got a job to do,” he told Newshub last October. “Just the process… they didn’t let me know until later on and that’s the biggest thing.”
The 50-cap All Black would go on to express a little excitement about the prospect of versing his old team.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge and I guess I’ve got that game marked on my calendar as well.”
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Fast forward to Friday, and while just pre-season, Savea’s homecoming got off to a strong start.
Lining up at second five-eighth, Savea was quick to inject his physicality into the match. In just the opening minutes he produced a damaging hit-up that turned a promising attacking position, 10 metres out, into a chance to rumble over from just two metres. The visitors soon found their way over the line.
Savea was a cheat code for getting over the gain line, even in stagnant play throughout the game.
Just minutes later he was proving why his transition to the midfield was a masterstroke by new coach Tana Umaga – a man who knows a thing or two about shifting in from the wing – receiving the ball just behind the halfway line, drawing two defenders with a direct run and popping a short ball to a striding Henry Taefu who was then free to run 20 metres.
With his next touch, Savea found a seam from 20 metres out and evaded two tackles to run the ball in near the posts. All this happened in the first 18 minutes of the match.
Julian Savea scores for @MoanaPasifika_ against his old club!
Look away @Hurricanesrugby fans!
ADVERTISEMENTWatch the game live & free on NZR+ 👉 https://t.co/EmbdsDycma pic.twitter.com/KV5EG8f3tR
— Super Rugby NZ (@SuperRugbyNZ) February 16, 2024
Savea has also said he was very close to making himself available for Manu Samoa selection for last year’s World Cup, and if it hadn’t been for an injury may well have joined names like Lima Sopoaga and Steven Luatua as former All Blacks in the Samoan environment.
The pre-season match was a see-saw battle early, with the teams exchanging blows in quick succession, finding weaknesses in their opponent’s defence.
Flanker Duplessis Kirifi scored two tries in the space of just seven minutes which began to build a lead for the home team just before halftime. Moana Pasifika faced a 14-33 deficit at the break.
It was Moana who struck first in the second period, but a penalty try and a double to the dangerous Kini Naholo secured a 50-point day for the Hurricanes, who conceded a similar scoreline last week against the Highlanders. Full-time: 59-26.
Not sure Savea has got that much to feel hard done by. Previous coach Jason Holland was clearly a fanboy and threw Julian a lifeline when everyone (including Hurricanes fans) can see Savea hasn’t been a force in rugby for close to a decade now, skating by on lost-past reputation more than anything. One bursting run in an 80 minute game where he usually did nothing and you’d inevitably get ‘the Bus is back!’ from hardcore fans, but otherwise he did nothing for his second stint at the Canes, much like he was doing in France.
He’s lucky there’s basically a sixth Kiwi team around now in Moana Pasifika to throw him yet another lifeline.