Julian Savea is in better form than when he last earned an All Blacks call-up
All season, pundits have been asking what winger Salesi Rayasi has needed to do to earn himself a place in the Hurricanes starting line-up.
In his first game of the year, against the Blues in Dunedin, Rayasi was the man who scored three expertly-taken tries – including two in the final 10 minutes – to help his side to a come-from-behind 33-32 victory.
“We know what he can do with the ball, we know he’s quick,” Hurricanes head coach Jason Holland said after the match. “It was a good outing for him. We’ll just keep working away and he’ll keep getting better and better at the small parts of the game and [if we can] get him finishing three tries every week [then] everyone’s happy.”
The following week, Rayasi held his spot on the left wing against the Highlanders and while the action didn’t necessarily flow his way as it had against the Blues, Holland said that Rayasi had actually put in a better performance.
“To be honest, I think he played better tonight than he did last week. Some people might not see that but he had much more intent and he was way better defensively, way better around his breakdown. I thought he was really good tonight even though he didn’t score any tries or get too many opportunities, that’s just the way the game went.
“Sometimes as a winger you’ve got to do the hard yards and you’ve gotta do the breakdown, you’ve gotta do the carry and you’ve gotta do the D so I was really with what he did tonight.”
It wasn’t until the Hurricanes squared off with Moana Pasifika on Tuesday, however, that Rayasi was given another opportunity in the No 11 jersey, with Wes Goosen and Julian Savea the preferred starters for Holland throughout the season to date.
Ahead of last weekend’s fixture with the Crusaders, Holland noted that Rayasi had done nothing wrong to miss out on selection but implied that try-scoring rates perhaps weren’t the major focus for the Hurricanes selectors when determining who would run out on the wings.
“Sometimes the media and the public get carried away with who’s scoring tries without looking at some of the smaller detail,” Holland said.
Those smaller details will largely include work done off the ball – an area where Holland has presumably determined the likes of Savea and Goosen excel at compared to the less experienced Rayasi.
Statistics from the current season don’t necessarily back that up. Per game, Rayasi is hitting slightly more rucks than Savea, attempting and completing more tackles, and returning to action quicker following a tackle.
When it comes to the core duties of a wing, however, it’s hard to not be impressed with how Savea has performed in recent weeks
When Savea left New Zealand’s shores to link up with Toulon following the 2018 Super Rugby season, it was fair to say that the form of the then-26-year-old left much to be desired.
After first making the step up to test rugby in 2012, Savea became an automatic selection on the left wing for the All Blacks but his impact had started to wain following the 2015 World Cup. In 2016, he was dropped from the Hurricanes starting line-up due to fitness issues and despite notching up plenty of tries throughout the test season for NZ, it seemed clear that Savea’s time in the sun was coming to an end.
The following year, he was called up for the All Blacks’ series with the British and Irish Lions but lost his starting spot to Rieko Ioane and then missed out on selection in the squad for the Rugby Championship – the death knell for his test career.
Now, almost five years on, Savea is in better form than in his final season with the All Blacks and it’s not entirely out of the question that he makes a return to the national fold later this year. He might not necessarily be the best right wing of New Zealand’s Super Rugby sides at present – that honour would have to go to Sevu Reece at the Crusaders – but if Savea was playing in 2017 the way he’s playing for the Hurricanes at present, it’s entirely possible he would have never been dropped from the team in the first place.
Generally speaking, the All Blacks have unsurprisingly always been a hard team to crack. We’ve seen the odd bolter selected in the squad despite limited minutes at the level below – think Josh Lord in recent seasons Tupou Vaa’i – but in most instances, players have to be bashing down the door for multiple seasons on the trot before they’re given a coveted black jersey.
That’s partially due to the high standards demanded of the New Zealand national side, but also in part down to the fact that it’s also very difficult to lose your place in the set-up.
On Super Rugby form, in particular, world-class performers like Ma’a Nonu probably deserved to be dropped from the All Blacks on more than one occasion but the selectors persisted, knowing they could get the best out of their crop of players.
Savea was probably lucky to make the All Blacks in 2016 based on his form throughout that year’s Super Rugby season but after 18 months of failing to impress – coupled with the arrival of Rieko Ioane – he was eventually cut loose.
Savea had lost his pace, lost his dynamism – even lost the strength that made him such a hard man to bring to ground. Undoubtedly, there was snowballing effect where his less than impressive form hindered his confidence which hampered his play. Now, half a decade later, those key facets of his game appear to have returned. He might not be the fastest winger in New Zealand but he’s still incredibly quick, while his strength was on full display against the Crusaders on Friday when, in one instance, it took five tacklers to eventually bring Savea to ground – and he still managed to free his arms for an offload in contact.
The two-time nominated World Rugby Player of the Year is not the same player he was when he tormented France at the 2015 Rugby World Cup but he’s also performing at a higher level than the following season, when the All Blacks selectors still decided to include ‘The Bus’ in their squad for the Lions series.
With Sevu Reece, Rieko Ioane, Will Jordan nailed on selections for New Zealand’s series with Ireland this year, and George Bridge, Leicester Fainga’anuku and Braydon Ennor all possible call-ups who can play on the wing, it would be hard to find room for Savea in this year’s test squad – but it’s not an impossible suggestion.
Comments on RugbyPass
Hold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
40 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
1 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
5 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
40 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
40 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
40 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
40 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to commentsThanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
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