'No such word as warm up': All Blacks fighting for legacy of the jersey
The potential for wounds and bans won’t phase the All Blacks when they line up against the Springboks at Twickenham this weekend.
The clash with their famous foes acts as the final run before the Rugby World Cup kicks off on September ninth. The New Zealand side will have to hit the ground running in the tournament as they face hosts France on opening night.
Short-term injuries to lock Brodie Retallick and flanker Shannon Frizell have ruled the pair out for both the Springbok and France tests while for other nations, each week of warm-up games has claimed more victims through ill-discipline or injury.
Losing a player this close to the tournament is a worst-case scenario for any team but the Kiwis are putting zero energy into that idea.
“That’s not even in our thought process,” Ardie Savea told reporters in England. “We understand what’s been going on with the cards so we’ve been trying our best to be able to practice good technique and make sure that we don’t put ourselves in that position.
“But it’s footy, sometimes you get it wrong, so hopefully this weekend we can go out there and nothing comes of it.
“We’ve talked about there’s no such word as warm-up for us. Every time we put on that black jersey, every time we run out, we’re trying to do the jersey proud and do the legacy proud.
“So that’s kind of out of our vocabulary at the moment, we want to go out there firing and banging.”
Savea added insight of his personal approach to the match in addition to the team’s mentality.
“For me, every test is hard and that’s just an internal kind of gut feel that I put upon myself, in the standard that every game is hard and tough and you mentally prepare for that.
“I think playing this game against South Africa, leading up to what’s next is important.”
Having beaten the Boks in round two of The Rugby Championship, Savea and the All Blacks know where the game was won and how the South Africans will want to respond accordingly.
“They’re big men and they’re physical, and they’ll be looking at that last test around the first 20 (minutes) and they’ll want to come out firing nullify us.
“the way we started with Aussie, if we give that to South Africa we’re going to have a long day at the office.
“They pose a massive threat around their physicality, their threats around the breakdown, so we’ve just got to nail our structures, our game plan and be ready and stay ready for things that don’t go our way.”
A win would further the team’s positive momentum heading into what could be a pivotal opening match clash in Paris.
Savea and the 15 other squad members who featured at the 2019 World Cup in Japan are looking to “rectify” the result of that tournament, which saw the team bow out in a semi-final defeat to England.
While The No 8 claims to have a bad memory, a wry grin enveloped his face when asked whether the pain of the 2019 campaign was present in his mental preparations for this year’s title run, admitting the memory was “stored.”
“Yes. Yep, that’s all I can say. It’s good. Stored.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Yes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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!
5 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 …
34 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 comments