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New report details source of Ardie Savea's All Blacks frustrations

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - SEPTEMBER 27: Beauden Barrett and Ardie Savea of New Zealand sing the national anthem during the The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match between New Zealand All Blacks and Australia Wallabies at Eden Park on September 27, 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

A new report this week has investigated how talks between Ardie Savea and New Zealand Rugby (NZR) regarding Savea’s contract played out in the final months of 2025.

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There was much speculation over Savea’s role in Scott Robertson’s abrupt departure from the All Blacks head coaching role in January, but RugbyPass contributor Gregor Paul’s latest contribution to the topic has aligned directly with NZR’s account of events, suggesting that any significant discontent from Savea’s camp was a largely separate issue.

This week, Paul shared his findings from looking into the story, outlining them in an interview with D’Arcy Waldegrave on Newstalk ZB.

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Paul emphasised that he understood there to have been no Savea-led player revolt within the All Blacks, but the star flanker did approach New Zealand Rugby chair David Kirk with ambitions to end his New Zealand Rugby contract — which expires in 2027 — early.

“There’s a level of confusion about it… What was Ardie hoping for? He met David Kirk in early November to say, ‘look, I don’t think I can carry on’,” Paul told Waldegrave when asked how determined Savea was to get out of the current contract.

“By mid-December, he, or certainly his representation, was sitting around a table with New Zealand Rugby’s appropriate figures, talking about what they could do to keep him. And he was relatively confident, or New Zealand Rugby, rather, were relatively confident by mid-December that they were going to be able to come to an agreement to keep him.

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“So, it wasn’t a very long period, if you think about it; that’s about five weeks. So the fact that he came back to the table relatively quickly, he was willing to accept that there were no levers as such that New Zealand Rugby could pull, because they provided him with two sabbatical options in two of his contracts, and he’d taken both of those. He’d chosen to play in Kobe and earn a lot of money by doing that.

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“But as a result, my gut feel here is that he just overstretched himself. He underestimated his calendar; playing at the World Cup in ’23, going straight to Japan, coming home, and going straight into an All Blacks campaign, moving up to Moana and basing himself in Auckland.

“And (he underestimated) what that (Moana Pasifika) campaign took out of him as well, because it was a huge campaign. It’s probably the best Super Rugby campaign anyone’s ever had, only to go back into the All Blacks.

“So he spent a long time away from home living that life. He put a lot of effort into his rugby, and he just probably underestimated the impact of all that. And at 32, I think he just probably hit the wall a little bit, and he just didn’t really know what to do.”

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Savea’s nomadic lifestyle since leaving New Zealand for France’s Rugby World Cup in 2023 is likely to continue when he returns from Japan, with 16 games in the All Blacks’ 2026 schedule, just one of which is in Savea’s hometown of Wellington.

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The 2023 World Rugby Player of the Year will get the usual, extended All Blacks summer break at the end of the year, but will again be away from Wellington for the 2027 Super Rugby Pacific season with Moana Pasifika.

Paul reports that it is currently being discussed whether Savea sits out the July Test window, in which the All Blacks host France, Italy, and Ireland to kick off the inaugural Nations Championship, before making himself available for the rest of the international season.

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Comments

70 Comments
A
Ayre123 None 14 days ago

The ABs have been on the decline since 2018 when they have lost 9 times to the Boks since and there no sign of them recover their formidable past?

M
MM 11 days ago

The score since 2018 is 8-6 to the Boks so hardly a massive decline!

Is your skewing of history deliberate or just clumsy??

R
RD 14 days ago

Sounds a lot like gossip. Dave Rennie, nor the others, will have little tolerance of that!

T
T 15 days ago

Gut feelings have nothing to do with it not is he the only player in the ABs the insinuation Ardie needs to do anything is highlighted in the story. He didn’t say anything like what Grigor Paul and this commentator are saying they are grasping at straws in the end he did not talk about a revolt he is creating legacy by uplifting others teams around the world.

C
CO 15 days ago

Savea has had a very poorly managed three years, amateur hour.


He should only have been allowed to move to Moana with strictly limited minutes and he then went on to play super high minutes at Allblacks level under what was clearly a hot mess under the secret head coach Hansen


That Dalton left after Cane got his farewell year and then he was overlooked for tiny loose forward Kirifi has been another huge fail that again sees Sotutu playing for England at the World Cup.


Kirk needs to keep sorting out the woke shambles at HQ

S
Stefan G 15 days ago

Sad to see some rugby players becoming prima donnas like the footballers! Just play the damn game and leave the drama at home.

K
KwAussie 15 days ago

Makes a lot more sense than the BS about leading a player revolt

S
SC 15 days ago

Sit Savea out of the Nations Cup and start a back row of 6 Flanders, 7 Lakai, and 8 Sititi with Howden and Jacobson on the bench.


Savea may not get back into the starting lineup and that may not be a bad thing.

J
JW 15 days ago

I think a month off in June should be enough myself. Then ease the load on him in July with one or two games or bench roles etc.


It’s longer away for Ardie, but it makes much more sense to leave him out of the November series, not at home where fans want to see him.

c
cnw 15 days ago

First Paul clearly running PR at NZRU. Second hes doing it badly by throwing Ardie under the bus and backhandedly linking him yet again to player discontent. Third, why is any of Ardie’s private negotiations public anyway? I cant believe his managers are letting this happen. Its destroying his brand. Fourth, if any of this is true, how can Ardie be in the Captaincy conversation? Burn out is not about whether you get on with the coach. A total reset is needed, not more pressure and the ABs having their biggest challenge outside a WC with the Bok tour - is gigantic pressure.

A
Ayre123 None 14 days ago

Rumors were that Savea was a part of the Players Power that pushed to ousts Razor, if that was correct then Dave Rennie will watch him closely

B
B 15 days ago

Ardie Savea signed through the RWC 2027 and is currently playing for Kobe Steelers which gives Dave Rennie real time first hand knowledge of how he's tracking and what affect it might have on Ardies rugby career going forwards…

J
JW 15 days ago

And that fact is supposed to speak for itself somehow lol?!?!

C
CG 15 days ago

Ardie needs some time off. ABs should send the C team to safferland. Take the L and avoid all the injuries

If the AWB boys are true to form they won’t let any of the star players get uninjured to the tests anyway

c
cnw 15 days ago

No way. We have to show up. But chance to take a big squad and blood the new talent including the likes of Mafeleo, Numia, Norris, Dyer, Flanders, Beere, Love, Tangitau, Finenganofo, and keep developing Tosi, Darry, Sititi, Lakai, Tavatavanawai and bring back Papali’i. Perhaps even two squads comprised of a good mix of old and new so fresh for each game on tour but still high quality.

A
Atlas 15 days ago

No wonder you have no friends and your family avoid you

A
Ayre123 None 15 days ago

I believe he became a distraction, whose interest in his image popping on the big TV screen, closing to 33 age he is already past his best as a loose forward

D
DC 15 days ago

well maybe ardie needs to realise the allblacks are bigger than him

J
JW 15 days ago

To be fair to Ardie, NZR are probably more concerned with $$$ than winning.


Kirks actions here exemplify this as institutional rather than leadership issues.


They have repeatedly kept players on too long, but then they also kept Hansen on too long, and I struggle to see him being a money spinner, so perhaps it’s a functional problem of continuing to do what they have always done. But sacking a coach to try and keep any player is just going way too far.

J
JW 15 days ago

Razor’s biggest mistake trying to depend on Ardie so much.

This week, Paul shared his findings from looking into the story

… for the hundredth time lol Paul has been whipped into line by NZR just like Rennie was talking about overseas selection.


Ardie’s a great player but I have said it for a couple of years, he looks like an old man out their and won’t be able to last if he’s abused by the coaches. Needs to take a step back and fill the impact role, he’d be world class at that.

C
ColinK 15 days ago

The guy is a legend and has never looked like an old man, he is playing superbly as always. Exemplified by his steal against the mighty Boks at the garden of Eden to ensure it stayed ‘our place’. When he comes back he will have a rest missing the first three tests then he will start at 7 and likely be the captain.

K
Karlos G 15 days ago

He put the pen to paper for all those contracts than saying its too much for me!

McCaw and Codie Taylor, also now Scott Barrett the only WISE ones to take a non playing sabbatical

I really love Ardie as a player but l think chasing the money got in the way of making logical decisions!

P
PMcD 16 days ago

It’s just another confirmation the AB’s wasn’t a happy camp under Razor.


When your best player wants to walk away, the alarm bells should be ringing and Kirk jumped into action.


Another tricky issue for Rennie to manage.

P
PB 15 days ago

You probably also believe the earth is flat, right?

S
SB 16 days ago

Wouldn’t surprise me to see him not play in the July window, he has played an astronomical amount of minutes without much break.

J
JW 15 days ago

No he should be refreshed after a season in Japan.

K
Karlos G 15 days ago

Yeah but he chose that!, McCaw, Taylor and Barrett chose non playing sabbaticals.Savea made choices to expand his bank account now saying its too much for me!!! I’m thinking wisdom has not prevailed

P
PMcD 16 days ago

That’s my concern about this Nations Cup, if they don’t get a break this summer, then when is the chance before RWC 2027?

S
Spew_81 16 days ago

I understand that he was tired. But he chose to: play at the World Cup in ’23, go straight to Japan, go straight into an All Blacks campaign, move to Auckland and carry Moana Pasifika.


I still think asking Robertson to leave was the best option. The All Blacks were in the doldrums and not, clearly, building to anything.


If he shows the same commitment to Dave Rennie’s All Blacks as he has to his wallet and Moana Pasifika then he will be a standout.

J
JW 15 days ago

Can’t see it happening.

s
smartalec 16 days ago

I’m not sure what he was expecting with Moana, surely he knew he was going to have to carry that team last year, which he did admirably. But it must have taken a lot out of him and it looked like he ran out of gas for the AB’s last year.

J
JW 15 days ago

Yeah, him, Jordie, Beauden, Taylor, didn’t need to play the French series.


How good would it have been to have Dalton Papali’i starting at 7 against France!

H
Hammer Head 16 days ago

I feel like this hasn’t been ventilated enough.


Discuss.

A
Atlas 15 days ago

Never heard of any of this…..

j
jclaytonf 16 days ago

Despite his significant talent, Savea is a disruptive element in the All Blacks, and his presence in the team interferes with a rational loose forward strategy. I would have let him walk.

B
B 11 days ago

It would be irrational not to include Ardie in any All Black loose forward trio.

C
ColinK 15 days ago

bullocks

A
Andrew Nichols 15 days ago

What evidence do you have? Gut prejudice?

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