Ardie Savea takes aim at New Zealand's sports reporters in spat over Josh Ioane saga
Ardie Savea is not happy with how the standing down of six Highlanders players has been covered by New Zealand’s media – and he’s not afraid to show it.
Highlanders squad members Josh Ioane, Marino Mikaele-Tu’u, Teariki Ben-Nicholas, Sione Misiloi, Patelesio Tomkinson and Daniel Lienert-Brown were invalided from Friday’s match against the Crusaders following a breach of team protocol.
“There’s six guys who are unavailable through letting the team down around their standards; broke the code that we live by and it’s all around their professional habits,” coach Tony Brown told media following the squad announcement.
“They just let the team down, the leaders and the whole organisation so they won’t be available for selection.
“They have to earn their right to get selected again so we’ll see how they go for the rest of the week at training and see how they go next week.”
Ioane was previously stood down by Otago for one match during last year’s provincial season for alcohol-related reasons while a number of Highlanders players were also involved in an incident in Queenstown last year.
Further reporting by Stuff this week confirmed that the six Highlanders players were involved in a major party at Ioane’s residence following last weekend’s loss to the Hurricanes, with noise control officers eventually being called to the scene.
The media outlet interviewed Ioane’s neighbours, with many voicing their concern at the number of parties the 25-year-old has hosted over the past 12 months.
Outspoken senior All Blacks Ardie Savea has now taken to social media to lament the coverage of the incident.
“Yes players got stood down this weekend for team protocols,” Savea said on Twitter. “But it should stop there. All this investigating trying to make them look like there [sic] criminals is just stupid.
“Josh is a great young man I’ve had the honour to play and train with. Yes like all of us, we all need a bit of wisdom in our lives. We all do. but doesn’t excuse this kind of journalism. That’s why players don’t trust journalists cause some ruin it for others.
“Same journos/ media companies that promote mental health and well-being are the same ones that continue to over write and bag players through their articles that give public a gateway to hate and write bad things. BE BETTER.”
While a number of fellow players retweeted Savea’s posts, including TJ Perenara and Lima Sopoaga, a number of journalists had a different take on the situation.
Hamish McNeilly, a Fairfax journalist who Savea specifically identified in his tweets, responded that Ioane’s neighbours “needed a voice”.
I took my two kids to last week’s game. They supported their team, even when they lost.
However the actions of the six have not only hurt fans (like them) but more importantly deeply upset Josh’s neighbours who have endured late nights, and lack of sleep.
They deserve a voice.— hamish mcneilly (@southernscoop) April 1, 2021
He subsequently posted a separate tweet, saying that it was “nice to get a lecture in journalism from professional rugby players”.
Newshub presenter Andrew Gourdie also had little sympathy for the player’s point of view.
Honestly, I’m completely over this apparent idea the media is here to serve athletes.
We’re not here to report funny tweets, amusing TikToks and your latest sponsorship endorsement.
Credit, criticism and analysis is given where and when it’s deserved.
— Andrew Gourdie (@AndrewGourdie) April 2, 2021
Criticism was also levelled at the Highlanders for seemingly trying to somewhat sweep the saga under the carpet.
Ollie Ritchie, also of Newshub, was left frustrated after the Highlanders ignored all forms of contact that Ritchie attempted to make with the organisation regarding the matter.
Six players stood down from the @Highlanders today, and no one from the franchise returned emails, texts, or bothered to pick up the phone once. That’s incredibly poor. Pretending like it didn’t happen doesn’t make it go away.
— Ollie Ritchie (@OllieRitchie1) March 31, 2021
Following the team announcement press conference, the audio package released to media also had coach Brown’s comments on the incident removed.
Add to this they supplied a 2 minute clipped up version of the press conference excluding any mention of the stood down players. This when they usually send out the whole interview. Extremely poor https://t.co/1uusSXqjS5
— John Mckenzie (@Johnmck419) March 31, 2021
It’s been a messy situation all-round and won’t help with the Highlanders’ preparation as they head into a must-win clash with the unbeaten Crusaders on Friday night.
The Highlanders, who have not won a game in almost a month, will likely find the finals a step too far if they can’t quickly turn their fortunes around.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments