Ardie Savea gives verdict on Scott Robertson's All Blacks start

Ardie Savea has urged the All Blacks to embrace the challenge of playing England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham as he admitted the first few months under new coach Scott Robertson had been a “journey of growth”.

Robertson began life as New Zealand coach with a 2-0 home series win against Saturday’s opponents and a comfortable defeat of Fiji in July, but he found results harder to come by during The Rugby Championship.

The All Blacks lost to South Africa (twice) and Argentina to finish second behind the Springboks in the final standings.

It was the first time since 2009 the team suffered three defeats in the tournament but on the back of a 64-19 win against Japan in Yokohama City last weekend, Savea is confident things are starting to come together.

“It’s been a journey of growth,” Savea said when asked to sum up the All Blacks’ year so far. “It’s been a journey of connecting, coming together as a team, as a family.

“There’s a lot of new personalities coming together but I feel like we’re getting there, and we are there.

“We’re starting to understand what our game is. We’re starting to understand the players around us and hopefully we can connect that this week.”

Saturday will be third time the All Blacks have run out in Twickenham in the past two years, however they have to go back to 2018 for their most recent victory there.

In November 2022, England roared back to score three tries in the closing stages and claim a 25-25 draw that looked beyond them when Beauden Barrett struck a drop goal to put the All Blacks 25-6 in front with less than 10 minutes remaining.

On their last trip to south-west London, meanwhile, New Zealand were beaten 35-7 by South Africa in a Rugby World Cup 2023 warm-up.

Savea was part of the team that recovered from going 15-0 down to win 16-15 in Twickenham six years ago, though, and he believes the three-time world champions need to focus on themselves.

“We’ve got turn up and we understand how important the crowd is and the noise that comes with that,” he said. “But as All Blacks we’ve got to step forward and embrace that and walk with a smile and try to nail our game.”

Savea is expecting a physical battle on Saturday, especially given Tom Curry and Ben Earl have been selected to start in the England back-row. But he says there is more to their hosts than forward power.

“They don’t only just bring their physical game, they’ve got a bit of razzle and swag to their game as well with [Marcus] Smith at 10,” Savea explained.

“They can play from anywhere and we saw that the last time we played them at Twickenham; we got up and they came back and we drew.

“So, for us, we’ve just got to be clinical. Nail our job, nail our role, every moment, or try to, and hopefully get the dub.”