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All Blacks star Ardie Savea to wear goggles in Canada clash

Ardie Savea. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

NZ Herald

All Blacks loose forward Ardie Savea will wear rugby goggles in the team’s next Rugby World Cup clash against Canada tomorrow, after trialling them during training this week.

The move comes after Savea discovered that the vision had deteriorated in his left eye and realised he had to protect his eyesight.

“A couple of years ago I realised I had bad vision in my left eye,” said Savea. “Everything’s kind of blurry. I told All Blacks doctor Tony Page that it was getting worse and now we’re doing something about it.

“Doc notified me that World Rugby had some goggles that were approved and everyone has been really supportive. In terms of vision and seeing, it’s pretty sweet, and it’s now just a matter of getting used to them.”

https://youtu.be/-6_YBIewn7w

In May this year World Rugby approved the use of the goggles at all levels of rugby to allow those who are visually impaired to play the game. The approval came after extensive development and robust trialling of the eyewear.

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The type of goggles which Savea will wear have been approved by World Rugby and are designed to be safe for both the player wearing them and those coming into contact with the player. Savea follows in the footsteps of Italian player Ian McKinley who was the first international player to wear the goggles.

Page said Savea had worn the goggles at training in Beppu this week and they hadn’t affected his ability to play the game at the highest level, and he was now ready to wear them in the test against Canada tomorrow.

“It’s probably been the most challenging conditions that you can get (to test them). Humidity at up to 90 percent, 20 degrees (temperature) or so, and hard All Blacks training, and he’s done pretty well. It’s great to see someone like Ardie putting them on and being proud of it.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3CZFJ9gx9F/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Savea said when he realised that he could potentially lose his sight if his other eye was damaged, then it had been an easy decision to make.

“I’ve got my little girl and hopefully future kids and a bigger family, so I want to be able to see. I’m just thinking of the bigger picture and trying to protect my eyes.”

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1178693390017470464

Savea said while he didn’t see himself as a role model by wearing the goggles, he was aware of the potential impact of his decision, especially with visually impaired children.

“If by me wearing these inspires them to get some, and for them to try out the game of rugby, then it’s a positive all round for our sport.”

This article first appeared in nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.

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t
takata 37 minutes ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

Forgive me, I meant BILLIONAIRES.

Altrad (Montpellier), Lorenzetti (Racing 92) & Wild (Stade Francais) have a combined NET worth of more than €10 billion!

You are totally forgiven because I’m a very nice guy.


- Montpellier, 9th

- Racing 92, 10th

- Stade Français, 12th

All three barely saved themselves from relegation in the last couple of championship rounds.


How is it working for millionaire/billionaire to turn up their club into giant “cash cow”? (your words) if they are underachievers? or maybe Altrad, Lorenzetti & Wild are the ones being milked at the end, won’t you agree with that?


In fact, I did mention those three clubs and pointing that the real club power over FFR was achieved by their performance thru the number of their players available for selection, but not by sinking any large amount of money by contracting random big names from other countries.


All the rest, Vichy shutting down League, false amateurism, whatever it was about, seems utterly irrelevant to me about this summer tour selection. And yes, there would be some money and sponsors involved and lots of contract signed too, like if Top 14 was actually some kind of real professionnal sport League.


Toulouse will never pay a player above €600K, that’s what they say; Dupont’s €480K was back in 2022 when he gets elected player of the year; at 25, he still had a very well paid “Espoir” contract dating back from recruitment. What Toulouse did with Jaminet was actually common practice. Some people (Fiducial?) will always find some loophole, except that, this time, someone in between seems to have kept the money for himself.


PS: being able to upvote all your own posts seems legitimate but it’s really looking a bit insecure to me.

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t
takata 2 hours ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

Lost on the theory of why it would benefit a WC as well.

Where did I develop a theory about something benefiting the WC as well?!

It’s me lost 😊


I’m fully aware that French International players participation into Top 14, European Cups & 6 Nations will hinder their preparation for a WC. Its nothing new. Galthié & Co also noted that everything didn’t go the way it was planned in 2020 when he took over the national team. They had made detailed projections for players experience, number of caps, etc. that weren’t realistic in the long run to 2023 WC.


As for player welfare, since 2020, they have asked their players’ clubs to record and give them full data access to some set of metrics they had defined together concerning more than 120 targeted players (form U20 to senior players). Meanwhile, they were also frequently interviewing them in order to control their psychological state and motivation.


So I’m not particularly worried about Galthié’s ability to precisely know the real condition, mental & physical, of anyone he’s going to select to play for the team. From my humble level of observation, what I would guess about his current strategy, taking into account all those realistic limitations (game time, wellness, etc.) he is facing, is that he is trying to replicate for the national team what the clubs are doing in Top 14, in particular Toulouse (and now Bordeaux as well) since many seasons:


- drill as many quality players, as young as possible, to the core game plan and don’t build your team around individualities; then rotate players depending on who’s available for the day and keep the system flowing.

333 Go to comments
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