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Ardie Savea opens up on possibility of filling in for Sam Cane as All Blacks captain
By Sam Smith
Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea has remained coy about the possibility of replacing Sam Cane as All Blacks skipper over the coming months.
Cane has been sidelined for four-to-six months with a pectoral injury that will likely keep him out of the July test schedule, which is expected comprise of two Italy tests and a clash against Fiji.
While speaking to media earlier this week, Savea labelled the loss of Cane as a "massive blow", but was hopeful his fellow loose forward can make a swift recovery.
"It’s unfortunate but I know with Sammy, he’s strong and he’s been through the trenches before with previous injuries so I’m sure he’ll come back stronger and better," Savea said.
"It’s a blow for the All Blacks but just like life we’ve got to adjust and just move forward."
The 27-year-old took over as Hurricanes skipper this season and stands as one of the frontrunners to fill in as All Blacks captain, along with fellow Super Rugby leaders Sam Whitelock, Codie Taylor, Scott Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu and Aaron Smith.
However, Savea refused to be drawn into commenting on whether he would take the captain's armband from his fellow loose forward Cane.
"I’m one of the leaders in the team – if I got asked [to be captain] then I don’t know," the Hurricanes skipper said.
"I’m not really thinking about the All Blacks to be honest. I’m just trying to play well for the Canes and lead the boys here."
Savea and the Hurricanes are set to take on the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday, and 49-test star is hoping to make amends for his side's season-opening 31-16 defeat to the same opponents in Wellington in February.
"We know how it felt after losing a couple games, so we know the Blues will be firing after the result last week," Savea said.
"We know what's coming...we've got to be on point this weekend.
"If there's any moments we switch off or give them a sniff then we'll be punished."
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Look there are a few unarguable facts here that are very clear. SARU was close to bankruptcy with SR, bailed out by the Lions and they need the URC and EPCR. Inclusion of SA teams in URC has been a great for for ALL concerned, from a rugby perspective and financially, moreover there is massive growth yet to come. The GP is in financial trouble and this will be the catalyst for EPCR change to further cement the Boks.
If this all plays out with even greater rewards for the urc AND the Top14 & GP via EPCR, the 6N will become 7N. Nz and Aus NEED to get their version firing with Japan & the PI’s, otherwise they will find themselves increasingly regressing…
Go to commentsPerofeta came back and was available for the eoyt right? Or was that why Love was in the squad (but got injured in the last week)?
It was such a frustrating year. Perofeta looked a service stop gap until Jordan was fit, but then got injured. Plummer was selected because of Pero's injury and dmac shat the bed in the second half in Australia but Clarke (?) got himself binned at the 65 min mark so Plummer couldn't come on (at least with the risk adverse Razors thinking) when he was planned to.
So many other exciting opportunities that could have happened without injuries, but then theyre probably balanced by knowing Sititi probably wouldn't have been given a chance without multiple injuries happened.
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