'It astounds me': Tana Umaga on Ardie Savea's impressive performance

Fans at North Harbour Stadium in Albany were treated to a Super Rugby Pacific classic on Saturday evening between the Blues and Moana Pasifika. The home side held on to beat the Blues for the first time in their history, 27-21.

It took one mammoth performance from Moana Pasifika captain Ardie Savea, who was tremendous on the night, making a game-high 19 carries and three turnovers. Kyren Taumoefolau was also a standout for Moana Pasifika, scoring an impressive hat-trick.

Savea was there at the end, over the ball, winning Moana Pasifika the game and moving them up to sixth place on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder.

Moana Pasifika head coach Tana Umaga was immensely proud of Savea’s performance on the evening, saying that it’s all about how much it means to him.

“Well, it just astounds me sometimes, I don’t know if anyone can get any better, but he keeps doing it, and I think it’s just amazing what he puts himself through, how he prepares and also how much it means to him,” Umaga told media post-match in Albany.

“I think that’s the kind of thing we talked about as well, how much does it mean to us? We can, as he’s talked about, we can talk about it, but what are you going to do about it.

“He really showed that it’s the doing part that means something and that’s the doing part that we’ll all be judged on.”

Umaga also revealed that some narratives coming out of the Blues camp helped motivate his side on such an important night for the franchise.

“Ardie and I just talked about how we motivate ourselves? We don’t really need it, because they’re writing it for us.

“We heard some of the narratives that were coming out of their camp around, around things, and Ardie said to me, Look, we just got to be the light, and I think tonight we did that.”

For Savea, he feels most proud and excited for his teammates, who can celebrate a victory over the Blues for the first time.

“Just a world of emotions, to just come over here, I said to the boys, celebrate these moments, because it’s these moments that come often, so we’re really grateful and blessed that we got the win,” Savea said.

“For me, it’s like enjoying the highs, but also staying in the middle and Tana (Umaga) talked about consistency, like we can have an awesome game tonight, get complacent and then turn up next week and get pumped.

“I don’t want that, so I will celebrate tonight and come in on Monday, we’re back to work, and we’ll get better.”

Umaga believes that through Savea and the leadership team, his players are starting to understand what is needed to perform at the highest level.

“Our leaders led all week; they’ve done it since the season started. Now our players are starting to understand what’s required, that’s what’s required every day.

“Not just to turn up, and it’s going to happen, we’ve got to be very particular about what we do, and that’s something that’s going to grow them as well.

“You know, this is the opportunity of a lifetime for them. So to learn the skills off someone who’s playing the best rugby that anyone’s seen, and say, how does he do that? It’s not just luck, that’s the best way for our boys to learn.”