Ardie Savea ready to settle scores with England after ‘smack in the nose’

‘We understand what England can bring and if we don’t front up and match up it’ll be a long day,’ says New Zealand’s Ardie Savea. Photograph: Martin Keep/AFP/Getty Images

Ardie Savea, the reigning world player of the year, says the All Blacks want to settle a few old scores when they meet England next week. The New Zealand No 8 has made clear the home side have not forgotten the “smack in the nose” they suffered in the semi-finals of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and that they had to settle for a 25-25 draw in their most recent appearance at Twickenham.

Savea, back in a black jersey after a stint in Japan, has been impressed from afar by England’s progress since last autumn’s World Cup but suggests New Zealand will not lack for motivation when the two-Test series kicks off in Dunedin on Saturday week. “The last time we played them we drew so we’ve got a bit of history,” said Savea, passed over this week for the All Black captaincy in favour of Scott Barrett.

“We understand what they can bring and if we don’t front up and match up it’ll be a long day. That’s what happened in 2019 – we got smacked in the nose and couldn’t recover. They’ve just played Japan and have been going really well, so we need to get together quickly and rip into things. We don’t know what they’ll do this year but for us it is just about focusing on ourselves and making sure we nail it.”

In addition to the 19-7 semi-final defeat there is also the small matter of shaking off the disappointment of their 12-11 loss to South Africa in last October’s World Cup final, the last time New Zealand took the field. “I still stings a little bit,” the 30-year-old Savea said at the All Blacks’ official season launch in Upper Hutt. “It’s what drives me now to keep going. It’s not a feeling you want to experience. I don’t think it hit until the chaos died down … it took a while. But you’ve got to get up, learn from it and try and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Savea also said he will be giving his full backing to the Scott Barrett, who has been elevated to the captaincy by the new All Black head coach, Scott Robertson. “It is always a privilege being an All Black and we are all beside Scott. My heart is whatever is best for the team and I will lead in my own areas. I can’t wait to get stuck in and do whatever is needed to win this series.”

The recent form of several England players, however, has caught Savea’s attention and he is braced for a tough challenge. “From watching a few bits of their game they are physical, they look like they are playing with skill and they have got Marcus Smith running the game. His unpredictability is a threat and he has come into his own. He is controlling the game and they have got great forwards, especially their loose trio. We’ll look into that but our focus this week is making sure we get ourselves right.”

Since concluding his spell in Japan, Savea has not played a huge amount of rugby and ended up featuring for his local Wellington club side last weekend, where he was filmed enjoying a post-match sausage sandwich and enhanced his popularity by reportedly sticking NZ$500 behind the bar.

“I hadn’t played for six weeks so it was nice to get the lungs going,” he says. “It was good to get back to grassroots rugby, play a bit of footy and rub shoulders against and with guys I grew up with. It was tough on the lungs and in club rugby you’ve got a big target on your head but it was good.

“Japan was nice to change it up a little bit, but nothing beats home, being around familiar territory, doing school pick-ups and drop-offs, going to my local cafe. Small things you take for granted sometimes.”