Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand v South Africa - Ardie Savea closes in on greatness
- Published
Ardie Savea dives into score a try in New Zealand's dramatic quarter-final win over Ireland
2023 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand v South Africa |
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Venue: Stade de France, Paris Dates: Saturday, 28 October Kick-off: 20:00 BST |
Coverage: Commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, plus text updates on the BBC Sport website and app. |
"I think it is OK tonight for the boys to feel the hurt and feel the loss," said Ardie Savea.
Savea wasn't supposed to be there that night. The 30-year-old had only assumed the New Zealand captaincy after Sam Cane was injured in the warm-up for their World Cup opener against hosts France.
Stepping in at late notice, he led the All Blacks on the pitch and then, in the aftermath of defeat, faced questions at a media conference in the depths of the Stade de France.
Asked about the significance of New Zealand's first-ever pool-stage loss, he was unruffled.
"It is important to stay close and stay tight," he said. "We lost the battle, but there is still a war to be won."
The All Blacks are now only 80 minutes away from completing that mission. While France fell in the last eight, it is New Zealand who will take on South Africa in the showpiece game.
Savea's excellence has been key. He has hit opposition breakdowns with the persistence of a bedbug, topping his team's charts for steals and arrivals.
He has carried more often and beaten more defenders than any other forward at the tournament. No All Black has made more tackles in France than him.
In the last-eight win over Ireland, he was also box-kicking like a scrum-half and diving into the corner like a winger.
He has been a whirlwind, with a quiet, calm centre.
"We are just going to go out there and jam and play some footy," he said before his team's seismic quarter-final victory.
Before the Rugby World Cup final and all its hype and bluster, he is just as sanguine.
"We believed in each other and believe in our game. That has got us to this point. We don't have to prove anything to the world," he concluded.
Maybe when rugby has been a constant, it is where you find comfort. The field has always been home for his family.
His father Masina and mother Lina, who both moved to New Zealand from Samoa, played rugby to a high level, while his brother Julian blazed the professional trail Ardie has followed.
Julian, three years older, is a wrecking-ball wing, who scored eight tries during the All Blacks' last successful Rugby World Cup campaign back in 2015. When the pair weren't playing rugby outside as children, they would play an inside version, on their knees, in the family home. Invariably, they ended in tears.
Julian and Ardie Savea after being announced in the same All Blacks squad in May 2016
Eden Park is an altogether grander stage but when Ardie came off the bench to make his All Blacks debut against Wales in June 2016, Julian was a familiar face on the wing.
Savea - who, as a teenager, had his surname tattooed on his neck surround by six stars to symbolise the members of his immediate family - could potentially have been alongside his brother in the backline.
At 17 years old, he clocked 11.4 seconds for the 100m, and was splitting his time between playing as a flanker and a crash centre.
Ultimately, though, he opted for the forwards, putting in the weight-room hours to pile on the power.
He still isn't the biggest back row. Savea comes in at 15st 8lbs and 6ft 2in, nearly three stone lighter than Duane Vermeulen, who will be opposite him in Saturday's final.
But his athleticism, speed and strength over the breakdown are the trade-offs that have paid off.
Savea's rise to the top has not been entirely smooth or especially fast.
In a nation as strong as New Zealand, you have to wait your turn. It took him three years to become a definite international first choice, initially playing at flanker before taking on the number eight vacancy caused by Kieran Read's retirement in 2019.
He has also made mistakes. In a Super Rugby game earlier this year, he made a throat slitting gesture towards an opponent after being sent to the sin bin.
His remorse was swift and sincere, however. Before returning to the changing rooms, he went over to the television cameras to apologise for his uncharacteristic loss of temper.
"I put my hand up," he said. "I have to be better, there is no excuse for me, I have to be better."
On Sunday, a day after the final, he might be anointed as the best.
Savea is up for World Rugby men's player of the year award at the glitzy end-of-tournament bash.
It is an accolade that his brother Julian was on the shortlist for in 2014 and 2015. Savea himself was in the running in 2019.
On all three occasions, the award went elsewhere.
If New Zealand lift the Rugby World Cup on Saturday, the odds on the Savea family finally reeling in the individual honour will drop dramatically.
You sense Savea would keep either in perspective.
"We're just really happy to be in the spot we are in now," he said this week.
Present and correct as he has been throughout.