Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ardie Savea to captain All Blacks in Scott Barrett's absence

Stephen Perofeta, Ardie Savea and Asafo Aumua of the All Blacks line up to sing the national anthem ahead of the International Test Match between New Zealand All Blacks and England at Eden Park on July 13, 2024 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

All Blacks captain Scott Barrett is expected to miss the opening two Tests of The Rugby Championship against Los Pumas with a finger injury, an absence that will see vice-captain Ardie Savea promoted.

ADVERTISEMENT

The reigning World Rugby Player of the Year was a favourite, alongside Barrett, to land the role of captain under new head coach Scott Robertson, and the decision to go with the Crusaders lock was met with a mixed response from fans.

Savea’s powerful and inspirational style of play was seen as the perfect quality for a leader, and those Savea fans pushing his case will – albeit temporarily – get their wish when the southern hemisphere’s giants collide this weekend.

“He’s in our leadership group, he’s an obvious choice,” assistant coach Jason Ryan told media at a press conference on Monday when questioned on the difficulty of the call.

“He’s a leader anyway. We’re all full of support for Ardie, he’ll be great.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins
4
Draws
0
Wins
1
Average Points scored
42
14
First try wins
80%
Home team wins
40%

The aforementioned expectation is that the team will be without their familiar leader for both Los Pumas Tests courtesy of his torn finger ligament suffered in the clash with Fiji in San Diego, which required surgery.

The team have a one-week gap between the Argentina Tests and their first clash with reigning world champions South Africa in Johannesburg, fixtures that Barrett will no doubt be determined to take part in.

Jordie Barrett will continue to serve as vice-captain and will be joined by Codie Taylor during his brother’s absence.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

The Rise of Kenya | The Report

New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 2 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

It is now 22 years since Michael Lewis published his groundbreaking treatise on winning against the odds

I’ve never bothered looking at it, though I have seen a move with Clint as a scout/producer. I’ve always just figured it was basic stuff for the age of statistics, is that right?

Following the Moneyball credo, the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available

This is actually a great example of what I’m thinking of. This concept has abosolutely nothing to do with Moneyball, it is simple being able to realise how skillsets tie together and which ones are really revelant.


It sounds to me now like “moneyball” was just a necessity, it was like scienctest needing to come up with some random experiment to make all the other world scholars believe that Earth was round. The American sporting scene is very unique, I can totally imagine one of it’s problems is rich old owners not wanting to move with the times and understand how the game has changed. Some sort of mesiah was needed to convert the faithful.


While I’m at this point in the article I have to say, now the NRL is a sport were one would stand up and pay attention to the moneyball phenom. Like baseball, it’s a sport of hundreds of identical repetitions, and very easy to data point out.

the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available and look to get ahead of an unfair game in the areas it has always been strong: predictive intelligence and rugby ‘smarts’

Actually while I’m still here, Opta Expected Points analysis is the one new tool I have found interesting in the age of data. Seen how the random plays out as either likely, or unlikely, in the data’s (and algorithms) has actually married very closely to how I saw a lot of contests pan out.


Engaging return article Nick. I wonder, how much of money ball is about strategy as apposed to picks, those young fella’s got ahead originally because they were picking players that played their way right? Often all you here about is in regards to players, quick phase ruck ball, one out or straight up, would be were I’d imagine the best gains are going to be for a data driven leap using an AI model of how to structure your phases. Then moving to tactically for each opposition.

114 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ How the Gallagher Premiership has become rugby's go-to league for thrill seekers How the Gallagher Premiership has become rugby's go-to league for thrill seekers
Search