Ardie Savea has limited experience lining up for the All Blacks but he has plenty of Super Rugby experience, speed, and power. Photo / Photosport
Ardie Savea has limited experience lining up for the All Blacks but he has plenty of Super Rugby experience, speed, and power. Photo / Photosport
COMMENT:
First-choice openside flanker, second-choice No 8. Increasingly that looks the case with Ardie Savea.
If All Blacks captain Kieran Read were to fall over at any stage between now and the end of the World Cup, Savea seems ready to step into his positional shoes.
Each week Savea ismore compelling in this role, with other options less convincing.
Carrying off the back of the scrum is but one growing strength to Savea's game. This aspect is made all the more impressive by the fact he often achieves great gains after controlling the ball behind a backpedalling Hurricanes' scrum.
That alone is no easy feat, not least for someone supposedly playing out of position.
Even when starting at openside for the Hurricanes this year Savea will often shift to No 8 on their feeds. Last week against the Blues he did this several times, alternating with Reed Prinsep, to burst away for valuable metres.
Ardie Savea celebrates beating the Highlanders. Photosport
Neither All Blacks flanker Dalton Papalii nor Blake Gibson had the speed to shut him down. They are not the first, nor the last, to be burnt in this fashion.
The skill of skinning opposition loose forwards and the halfback is easy to overlook.
First of all, it requires serious acceleration, the kind more commonly possessed by outside backs. If this can be achieved ground is there to be made with the backline five metres behind the scrum. The first-five also lacks defensive support and is, therefore, ripe for steamrolling.
On a defensive scrum in the 22, Savea's ability to surge off the back is invaluable. It then forces the opposition pack to turn and trek back, allowing his first-five or other kicking options much more time to pick their potential clearance options.
Further evidence of explosive power off the back of the scrum came from Billy Vunipola at the weekend, the English No 8 beating four defenders to score the decisive try that carried Saracens to European glory over Leinster in Newcastle.
Allowed to wind up, Savea and Vunipola are both incredibly difficult to stop at full steam.
Ardie Savea's explosive power is similar to that of England superstar Billy Vunipola. Photo / Getty
Savea has twice started at No 8 for the All Blacks – in the romp over Samoa at Eden Park prior to the 2017 British and Irish Lions series, and against the Pumas in Argentina last year, with Sam Cane at seven.
On that occasion in Buenos Aires, as the All Blacks cruised to victory, Savea was immense. Since then his game has gone to another level.
Naturally, we focus on his world-class abilities at openside. His work at the breakdown in snaffling game-changing turnovers in the past 12 months has been unrivalled in New Zealand rugby, but versatility could yet prove his greatest asset to the All Blacks.
For all the improvements in Akira Ioane's game, it's difficult to see the All Blacks trusting him to start a World Cup knockout match, in the event Read is unavailable, given he is yet to make his test debut. Impact off the bench is a different prospect.
Luke Whitelock offers a defensively strong safe pair of hands but his decision to leave New Zealand after this season, despite the opening left by Read's pending departure to Japan following the World Cup, suggests he does not feel highly regarded.
Liam Squire has, at various times, been viewed as Read's injury replacement but he has not featured since November and is racing the clock to prove his fitness after the latest comeback was delayed by another two weeks for personal reasons.
Savea ticks all the boxes - experience, speed, power.
The only slight concern with starting him at eight would be the All Blacks losing height in the lineout, though this could be offset by throwing up the blindside more. When Savea last started at eight for the All Blacks, Shannon Frizell and Jackson Hemopo were used at six.
Ardie Savea would be the perfect backup to All Blacks captain and No 8 Kieran Read. Photo / Getty
Cane's imminent return will inevitably sharpen attention on his looming battle with Savea.
In all likelihood, though, Cane will need time to regain his best, having been out for seven months. His return from a broken neck to this point is remarkable.
All going well Cane's defensive brutality could be trialled at six, in tandem with Savea, during the Rugby Championship.
Cane is a leader within the All Blacks but, for now at least, Savea appears indispensable.
And as far as insurance policies go, they don't come much better than him at eight.
