“He’s just ticking along week by week.”
In other news:
The Hurricanes have refused to dwell on recent comments made by star loose forward Ardie Savea regarding a potential code switch to rugby league.
The 26-year-old made headlines yesterday when he revealed on The Ice Project podcast that he holds aspirations to move to the 13-man code before the end of his career.
“100 percent I want to play rugby league, I think they [the players] do a lot more in terms of off the field stuff. And also, just a new challenge. I want to test myself,” Savea told podcast host and former rugby league international Isaac John.
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The 44-test All Black mentioned that he would like to transfer to an NRL club that was “dominating, like the [Melbourne] Storm and [Sydney] Roosters”.
Savea doubled down on his comments on the Staf Chat podcast, where he told the TAB’s Mark Stafford that the opportunity to represent Samoa could be enough to lure him away from rugby union.
“[I’ve] been following hard out on the World Rugby rules and that stuff. For me it’s how proud the Samoan people are and I know how much Samoans give to rugby internationally…my old man’s face if he knew that I was going to play [for Samoa],” he said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8-C1mvAE4b/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
His Super Rugby franchise isn’t buying into the hysteria that has followed in the wake of his comments, though, as Hurricanes assistant coach Chris Gibbes emphasised the importance of Savea within the club.
“If you look at it, he’s a competitive athlete and he’s not the first guy to talk about different codes,” Gibbes said.
“But we haven’t really talked about it too much because at the end of the day, Ardie is part of us and he’s working his way back into our team and helping us prepare as well as we can for the game.
“It hasn’t dominated our discussions.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B59_2lCgYMz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Instead, Gibbes opted to focus on Savea’s injury recovery after he was ruled out of action for most of this year’s Super Rugby through a knee injury sustained during the All Blacks‘ World Cup semi-final defeat to England last year.
Gibbes said Savea, whose contract with New Zealand Rugby expires next year, was “doing everything right” to recover and return for the Hurricanes.
“We want to win a championship and we want him to be a part of it,” Gibbes said.
When asked on a possible return date, the former Wellington and Waikato head coach remained coy.
“He’s just ticking along week by week.”
In other news:
The club versus country debate has been rumbling on for eons but there are tentative signs progress is inbound, at last
The Springbok's mastery of the dark arts propelled his team to World Cup glory and could spur the Sharks into uncharted European waters.
After hitting rock-bottom in 2017, Europe's most successful club have rediscovered their élan.
Comments on RugbyPass
How does this guy still have a job?
64 Go to commentsSorry bok you can't beat facts, we heard you all crowing how great you thought you were..lol ! We all watched the game, cheatsabeth cheating cost abs a try, only a penalty considering it was cynical and a professional foul, doesn't matter who wrote this because thats how it happened, but you go enjoy your gifting of the cup,
64 Go to commentsCan we talk about the context of how this particular journalist continues to make a living and gets published? Controversy for clicks. Shame on all of us for engaging with these irrelevant opinions.
64 Go to commentsAn astounding article !
64 Go to commentsFrance didn’t lose against New Zeland in 2011, but against Joubert…
64 Go to commentsHahahaha knew the “journalist” just by seeing the headline. Not wasting my time reading it as I know it's just another toxic manifestation of the boks living rent free in this babies head.
64 Go to commentsWhen you read those facts, you can say safely that the game was handed to the Springboks by the ruling mistakes made by the Referee and TMO. Perhaps that is why South Africans were/are so “noisey” about the win….this behaviour perhaps concealing that they realise luck played a big part in the result. Certainly not a good look for the IRB going forward…pretty shoddy sadly.
64 Go to commentsI must admit to being quite surprised by all the wine-ing and hand wringing from most AB pundits; commentators and the general analysis after a classic and engrossing final. I shudder to think how the pundits would’ve reacted if the AB’s where victors with 1 point on the day.. Most Bok fans pundits; fans and commentators take a loss on the chin; congratulate the winner and move on…and till now the NZ rugby fans where the same.. Naas Botha’s famous quote has never been more apt…. Cowboys don’t cry or make excuses.. STOP IT CRY-BABIES; …..YOU LOST.
64 Go to comments4 out of 8 beats 3 out of 10 cups. Maybe NZ are bad finishers???🤣🤣🤣
64 Go to commentsBokke bokke Bokke
1 Go to commentsThe main thing you need on your side to win a World Cup is luck. ABs had their fair share of it in the 2011 final. One score game in the SF vs Springboks in 2015 means there always things you can look at and say if this thing or that thing happened then SA would/should have won that game. Smith’s try being called back broke protocol, but it was the correct decision, so I don’t have a problem with that. If it was an SA try called back in the same circumstances I don’t think many ABS fans would have a problem with it. Cane’s shot was high, it was the classic thing NZ players have been doing, and getting carded for for years - Walking around bolt upright trying to put a big hit on someone. Stupid play by someone with a poor disciplinary record. The one that was a big problem for me was Etzebeth’s obstruction. The referee just choked on this occasion. Frustrating to have the TMO in his ear all night, apart from at this moment. Minimum yellow card for Etzebeth, but a very strong case for a penalty try also. Despite all that the ABs had the opportunity to be ahead with 3 minutes to play, so it’s hard to point fingers too much. Pollard makes that kick 99/100. JB and RM make it 50/100. That’s what it came down to in the end.
64 Go to commentsBOKS had a great side in 2011 and were in kicked out by a NZ ref and Nz were very lucky to win in final against France.
64 Go to commentsBarrett's try came from a forward pass, and perhaps the Bok game plan would have been different had the ABs remained with 15 on the pitch. We will never know. But if we are living in a world if what if's, then go back to the France v Bok game. France dominated the WC, and had they gotten past the boks, would have easily beaten the ABs in the Final
64 Go to commentsRehashed articles. But this piece does not do justice to how good the Boks had to be to win that tournament, and how immense some of their players were in that final. Peter Stef du Toit played one of the greatest games by a loose forward ever. All Blacks played well but not well enough and came up short. There are a million ‘if’s’ and none of the ‘if’s’ that don’t happen will win you a footy match.
64 Go to commentsSour grapes/ face it the allblacks aren't that good anymore LoL!!!
64 Go to commentsDear Internet, This is what sour grapes look like… It wont make any difference in down playing the SA win. The scoreboard is the ultimate statistic. I agree with Johnz, I would have liked a full 15vs15 for the whole game. Could have been even better or worse. What we as rugby supporters got, was a fantastic game where the result could have gone either way. It was great.
64 Go to commentsben loser smith. I haven't read the article. Just saw the headline and knew it was him. Rugbypass surely you can do better than this clickbate loser.
64 Go to commentsIf if if….If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle
64 Go to commentsBen is right, the RWC should be taken from SA and awarded to NZ. Rugby matches from now on will not be decided on points but rather on who deserved to win the most. This will be decided by 1 journalist sitting in a bunker.
64 Go to commentsThat's quite a wind up Ben. I'm an all black fan, and admittedly the loss felt a little hollow, given how well the boys played once Cane left the field. But that's finals footy, sometimes it's cruel. Let's look at the reality though. This was a team that spent an entire year thinking about how to beat Ireland, and did so magnificently. Come final time, they started the match looking overawed, fearful and unprepared. This led them to getting behind on the scoreboard, and chasing the game, which is never a good position to be in a final. SA started better, were confident and assured. That, in the end, was the game. The comeback led by Savea was phenomenal, but not quite enough. That's how comebacks often go. The real questions should be why they looked so unprepared? Why we needed to get behind and lose our so called leader to start playing? And why the best player against SA from a month or two before wasn't even in the team? Plus give some credit where it's due, PSD was quite phenomenal and instrumental in keeping SA ahead, a performance for the ages.
64 Go to comments