RugbyPass April Player of the Month - Ardie Savea
As part of a new series, RugbyPass will be scouring the world for the most in-form players that the northern and southern hemispheres have to offer and picking a global player of the month. Each winner will receive a donation of $100 to the charity of their choosing, with their form on the field not only helping their club or country, but also a cause close to their heart.
As the Super Rugby season rolls through to its halfway point, only two teams have separated themselves as a cut above the rest. Only the Hurricanes and Crusaders have win rates above 70 percent, with the race to the playoffs littered with many struggling to find consistent results.
The Hurricanes wouldn’t be where they are this season without talismanic leader Ardie Savea, who is making a strong case as the most valuable player in Super Rugby with consistent world-class performances every week.
April was no different as the Hurricanes fought to three wins from three matches over the Highlanders in Dunedin, the Sunwolves in Tokyo and the Chiefs at home in Wellington to keep within touching distance of the Crusaders. Savea only played in two of the three games but delivered instrumental performances in securing wins over key rivals in the New Zealand conference.
Coming off the back of a disastrous 32-8 loss to the Crusaders at home to finish March, the Hurricanes headed south for a derby under the roof in Dunedin with mounting pressure.
Right from the second minute, Savea exerted his influence by stealing a turnover from a Highlanders’ ruck deep inside the Hurricanes’ 22, flipping a pop pass to TJ Perenara to spark a long break. It would be the first of three turnovers won in the match.
With his side down 14-7 on the cusp of halftime and the Highlanders pressing again, Savea came up with a game-changing play, reading a pop pass from Tevita Li off the ground. He snatched it with one arm and powered away 70-metres to keep them in the match.
Perilously positioned down 28-17 with 20-minutes to go, again it was Savea combining with Ben Lam in a power-packed counter-attack, with Lam busting through four defenders before finding the openside who bounced to the outside and finished in the corner after beating two defenders of his own.
He finished with eight tackles at a 100% completion rate, including one on the left-hand touchline chasing down Tevita Li from broken play that brought the winger down less than 10-metres from the try line.
After resting for the side’s trip to Tokyo, Savea followed his Highlanders match with another quality outing against the Chiefs finishing with a game-high 17-tackles on 18 attempts.
With his side up 33-19, Savea delivered the killer blow after stealing Chiefs possession inside his own 22 at the breakdown. He found TJ Perenara who was able to shake a defender and streak away downfield. Backing up, Savea received the final pass from Jordie Barrett and dodged two Chiefs backs to cut inside and score one of the tries of the season.
Captain TJ Perenara lauded Savea’s efforts after the match, and considered him the world’s best at his position when you weigh up the extras that he brings without sacrificing the core duties of the role.
“His ball-into-contact, his leg drive post-contact. It’s probably not what people say a traditional seven does, but when you’re out there doing what he’s doing, he makes tackles, he gets turnovers, he hits rucks like any other seven in the world,” Perenara explained.
“But what he does on top of that, I think is better than anyone else in the world.”
Perenara’s view is backed up by the RugbyPass Index, which rates Savea as the number one openside in the world based on his form over the last 12 months. Savea is currently rated at 92 and has been rated above 90 since his breakout end of year tour last November with the All Blacks.
Savea’s two pivotal performances in April, in the context of a season where he has delivered each and every week for the Hurricanes, earns him the honour of RugbyPass Player of the month.
Kieran Read post-match interview after draw with Sharks:
Comments on RugbyPass
Why 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!
3 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 …
31 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 commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments