Ardie Savea with daughter Kobe following this year's second Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
Ardie Savea with daughter Kobe following this year's second Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
All Blacks captain Ardie Savea has opened up on life away from home as the All Blacks near their halfway mark in the end of year odyssey.
The All Blacks have been offshore since late August, committing to staying in Australia for the Rugby Championship before moving further north fortheir end of year tour.
The group aren't due back in New Zealand until mid-November, with two weeks of quarantine in a MIQ facility awaiting them on their return.
"Right now, there are times when it's hard; you talk to the kids and stuff like that and it's difficult, but halfway, the good thing about rugby is you're always busy training," Savea said.
"I think the team is in a good place. We've got one more this weekend to hopefully finish well, then have a break and go on to the end of year tour. The team is in a good place, but myself, personally, just trucking along.
"I have those tough, hard moments sometimes where you miss the family, but you just have to push through."
Ardie Savea with daughter Kobe following this year's second Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
The All Blacks wind up their Rugby Championship campaign against the Springboks on the Gold Coast on Saturday night, looking to go through the tournament undefeated for the first time since 2017.
The side clinched the trophy with the win over the South Africans last weekend, but Savea said there were plenty of areas to improve.
In a physical encounter, the All Blacks often took the aggressive approach of kicking to the corner when they were awarded a penalty in good territory, while their scrum was a bit shaky at times. For many, it was their first time playing against the Springboks and Savea said even those who had experience against the South African side were reminded what it was like to go up against the reigning world champions.
"It didn't matter if you were playing them for the first time or if you were playing them for the 50th time, it was a learning experience for all of us – even myself. But I know for a fact that, physically, there were a lot of sore bodies on Sunday and Monday, so it'll probably be like that again after Saturday."
The Springboks came under scrutiny following the match for time wasting, as it seemed whenever there was a break in play, one of their players was in need of some form of medical attention. While genuine in some cases, not all appeared to be valid, wasting time and allowing the players more time to rest.
When asked how to counter that sort of tactic this weekend, Savea said it was a tricky situation because no one is really in a position where they can argue against what a team's medical staff are saying.
"I just have to put pressure on the ref in a better way and demand a little bit more, but it's out of our hands when the medical team is on the field and they're saying they need to check up on [someone] - and if there's anyone that knows anything better it's the doctors, so there's not much myself or the ref could do in those situations," Savea said.
"What we can do as a team is not get frustrated; come together and we just have to adapt and adjust like we did last week. It's just how it is unfortunately."
