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From Rongotai to the All Blacks – Savea’s dream fulfilled
This week All Blacks winger Julian Savea announced his New Zealand career is all but over after signing with Toulon. The hometown product has achieved it all and will leave as a local legend. It’s been a magic ride to the top from an underdog school, fulfilling a dream that looked possible from a young age.
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At barely 15 years old he made his 1st XV debut in Year 10 and quickly became a school hero as the underdog Rongotai College had uncovered the rugby equivalent of Lebron James. He was a special athlete who measured at 1.90 and 104kg in his last years of high school. With sprinter’s speed, power and most of all rugby nous, Savea was as Steve Hansen described – ‘unstoppable’.
By Year 11 whispers began about this special kid from Rongotai. Every team that played them had a plan to ‘get Julian’. Many tried and many failed.
On a perfect winter’s afternoon in 2007, Rongotai played rival St Pats Silverstream at home in the annual traditional, one that has been historically dominated by Silverstream. In 60 attempts Rongotai has only notched 18 victories.
Savea, now in Year 12 and his third year of 1st XV, scored three first-half tries all from past halfway on the way to a 28-11 win. It was a sight to behold. With every Savea touch, the crowd rose in anticipation of seeing something improbable, each time left with growing disbelief at what they just saw. The win was by the largest margin since 1969 and is still the biggest margin against Silverstream in school history.
He made the New Zealand schoolboys that year as a winger and returned for his final year of schooling the next, already in the Hurricanes academy. He was selected for the New Zealand Sevens team while still a schoolboy.
Whilst it seems the path was laid out, there were bumps to overcome. He was propelled through to each level so young, and each time had to adjust. He played club rugby just like everyone else, but eventually, the prodigious talent found his way.
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A breakout 2010 Junior World Cup in Argentina for New Zealand put the world on notice that his arrival was imminent. He picked up the IRB Junior Player of the Year award and comparisons were made to the late great Jonah Lomu. He debuted for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby in 2011 but had a quiet time in a developing Hurricanes team.
2012 saw the arrival of ‘The Bus’ as a damaging force in Super Rugby as he plowed his way through opposition backs. He began bumping off current All Blacks like schoolboys. His try against the Crusaders where he crushed Israel Dagg like a hydraulic press machine was mesmerizing. An All Blacks debut beckoned, where he scored three tries against Ireland and thus begun the Savea-era in the famous 11 jersey.
His most memorable match will probably be the 2015 World Cup quarter-final against France, where he scored three barnstorming tries in a record win. Savea had finally made it to the biggest stage of all and fittingly came up big like he had always done. It was a pinnacle moment and left a global audience with the same feeling many had watching him in high school – a mix of disbelief and awe.
He left with a World Cup winners medal and then helped his hometown franchise Hurricanes to a maiden Super Rugby title the following year. Something as a local product will be a cherished achievement for him.
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The move to Toulon follows the exact path of another All Black legend, Ma’a Nonu. Fittingly, Nonu was also a Rongotai old boy and has had nearly an identical path. With so much left to give, France will still see the best Savea has to offer. With Top 14 titles and Champions Cups to compete for, Savea will find new challenges and Europe will get a first-hand look at one of the best power wingers in history.
Hopefully, they will leave with that similar feeling of amazement.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
It will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments