AUCKLAND — All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has provided an update on captain Ardie Savea after his shoulder dislocation and insisted Beauden Barrett still has plenty to offer New Zealand going forward.
Savea, 32, dislocated his shoulder in the third Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series Test against the Springboks in Soweto after scoring a brace of tries in the opening quarter. He has subsequently been ruled out for the remainder of the international season and has had an operation. "He has had an operation, and he won't return until next year in Super Rugby, and I'm not even sure whether that'll be in time for the start of Super Rugby, but he's got a fair bit of time rehabbing," Rennie told Newstalk ZB's Weekend Sport with Jason Pine. The back-rower has signed with the Auckland-based Blues following the demise of Moana Pasifika and could miss the start of the Super Rugby Pacific campaign. Responding to a caller who suggested the series would have panned out differently had Savea stayed fit, Rennie said: "I agree with you around the impact that he made in South Africa. He did a great job leading our guys. He's inspirational," and added, "He was on absolute fire that day, scored a couple of tries, and I think got injured maybe 25 minutes into that game."
Rennie said there could be a silver lining to the extended absence. "So look, we've got really good depth," he said. "We've got a lot of good players, but it's hard to replace someone of that calibre. We will miss him, but it's an opportunity to grow others over the next few months, and he's had a big couple of years." He added, "So maybe we might reflect back in February that the break's been really good for him, so he can have a big year leading into a World Cup."
Another player ruled out for the remainder of the season is Hurricanes fly-half Ruben Love, who sustained an ankle injury in South Africa. The first-five started all but one of the All Blacks' Test matches, with Richie Mo'unga starting the RGR finale in Baltimore — his first appearance in the black jersey since the 2023 Rugby World Cup final — and he is primed to don the number 10 jersey again versus Australia in the Bledisloe Cup. Beauden Barrett also played his first Test of the year in the USA, coming off the bench in the second half. While he has fallen down the pecking order since Rennie took over from Scott Robertson, Rennie hailed his influence: "I hadn't coached Beauden prior to this and coached against him a lot. He is impressive; he trains the house down and is a big driver of the culture and the legacy," he said. "The amount of assistance he gave Ruben through that series- he sat down a lot and was really open and sharing with him, and a guy that he's competing with. It was really impressive; he's a really good man. I think that we played him a fair bit of 15 in South Africa, and he played really well, and so he's still got a lot to offer New Zealand rugby." Rennie added, "We've played Ruben in Tests and Richie there this year, and probably utilise Beauden more at 15, and that's where he's playing for Taranaki this week, but I still think he's got a massive amount to offer the black jersey."
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