Ardie Savea reveals injury struggles: 'I've been battling'
Ardie Savea has revealed an internal struggle during the early stages of rehabbing a serious knee injury.
It was never a do-or-die scenario for the 27-year-old, just a patient one.
Training again and running around the paddock with his teammates has refreshed Savea, who says the long journey toward being fit and available for the All Blacks saw him discover a renewed passion for the basics in rugby.
“I just found the passion in the little things,” Savea told media on Thursday shortly after being named to start at openside flanker against Fiji.
It will be the first appearance for the blockbusting loose-forward in the black jersey this year after a battle with a serious MCL injury sustained during the Hurricanes’ ill-fated Super Rugby campaigns.
It will also be Savea’s 50th test for the All Blacks but getting through the rehabilitation was a battle at the start, Savea revealed, as he initially tried to rush for a return.
“I’ve been battling a little bit,” Savea admitted. “I was trying to rush it a little bit personally with myself so it’s been about trusting the process with the medical staff. Honestly it’s nice to put on the black jersey again because it’s always special so I’m just grateful to be named and be able to run out there.”
During a week where much of the talk has been about the All Blacks’ breakdown ability and their back-and-forth contest with Fiji, the return of the physical specimen that is Savea is sure to give some confidence of a better performance in the trenches.
Focus for the men in black will be on the ball carrier, and as one of the most explosive in the game, Savea says the challenge ahead is a good one for the collective.
“It’s good for us because we are a physical team but pretty much their whole team is pretty powerful and strong. They’ve got players that know how to jackal and go over the ball while staying extremely low so for us it’s about our ball carriers doing the job and our cleaners getting in there to stop them getting penalties and turnovers.”
Ardie Savea is the first to admit that he'd rather be wearing the #AllBlacks No 8 jersey than sitting in the stands – but an extended run in his preferred role of openside flanker could be the making of his career. #NZLvFIJ
?? @TomVinicombehttps://t.co/3FkOnMU6QD
— RugbyPass+ (@RugbyPassPlus) July 15, 2021
Front of mind for Savea, through some 49 appearances at test level, is the awareness that teams tend to grow a second leg when coming up against the All Blacks.
“I relish every test match because every team gets up when they play the All Blacks so it’s a great challenge for us as a team to keep that consistency going and putting out great performances.”
Alongside Savea in reaching the half-century marker will be his good friend Anton Lienert-Brown who himself returns after a stint on the sidelines.
A niggly elbow was always on the cards to get operated on at some point in time, but when it began to impact on training, the 26-year-old was persuaded to get the procedure done.
“There’s probably been something going on for about a year but I managed to play through it,” Lienert-Brown revealed. “Then during the back end of [Super Rugby] Trans-Tasman it got too niggly and while I could still play, it was hindering my training so it was one of those things that probably needed to be done at some stage.”
Lienert-Brown’s experience in the midfield will be a boost, as well as his physicality in what is a reasonably small backline for the second Fijian encounter.
“Within the midfielders there’s a huge amount of talent and a huge amount of knowledge so it’s about me leading those conversations and using all my knowledge to ensure we get to where we need to get to.”
“I guess at the moment we’ve changed it up quite a bit but that’s not a bad thing because finding that right combination is important.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments