'The midfield is where I want to end up': Julian Savea wants All Blacks No 12 jersey
Former All Blacks star Julian Savea says he wants to return to the New Zealand national side – but as a second-five rather than a wing.
Speaking to NZ Rugby World, Savea outlined his ambitions to return to the test arena for the All Blacks as a midfielder, five years after his last outing for the New Zealand.
“The midfield is where I want to end up,” the 31-year-old said. “I want to be more of a playmaker, in behind the forwards, making the calls. The goal is to get back there [the All Blacks]. It’s why I’m trying to play the best rugby I can.”
A powerful wing who scored 46 tries in 54 tests between 2012 and 2017, Savea has broadened his skillset and positional versatility since he last played for the All Blacks.
While his offshore move to Toulon was described by Savea as “often awful”, it led to a positional switch to second-five, where he played frequently for the French glamour club.
Upon his return to New Zealand two years ago, Savea continued to play there occasionally for Wellington and the Hurricanes, but has been used there just once in Super Rugby Pacific this season.
That appearance came against the Blues back in February, where he marked superstar All Blacks candidate Roger Tuivasa-Sheck as part of a midfield duo with Hurricanes standout Bailyn Sullivan.
While he has barely featured at second-five for the Hurricanes, Savea’s comments that he is intent on playing there for the All Blacks are eye-catching given the uncertainty regarding who will play there for Ian Foster’s side.
With veteran midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown gone for virtually the whole season due to a shoulder injury, there is no outright frontrunner to partner with Rieko Ioane, who is widely tipped to start at centre for the All Blacks.
Quinn Tupaea was last week labelled as the “incumbent” for the role by former All Blacks hooker James Parsons, while David Havili picked to the play there regularly for New Zealand last year.
Both players featured prominently due to the absence of Jack Goodhue, the next most experienced midfielder in the country behind Ioane and Lienert-Brown who has just returned from a year-long, injury-induced sideline spell.
Elsewhere, Tuivasa-Sheck’s progress in rugby union continues to grab headlines, Jordie Barrett looms as a potential midfield option, and uncapped pair Thomas Umaga-Jensen and Alex Nankivell both have the potential to be bolter selections.
Now on record with his aspirations of an All Blacks comeback in the midfield, Savea can now be added to that list of contenders, although his chances of selection may be impacted by his continual selection on the wing for the Hurricanes.
Savea has started there in eight of the franchise’s 12 matches this year, but could yet earn selection in the midfield in this week’s clash against the Rebels in Wellington on Saturday.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments