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Ardie Savea to captain All Blacks in Scott Barrett's absence
By Ned Lester
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett is expected to miss the opening two Tests of The Rugby Championship against Los Pumas with a finger injury, an absence that will see vice-captain Ardie Savea promoted.
The reigning World Rugby Player of the Year was a favourite, alongside Barrett, to land the role of captain under new head coach Scott Robertson, and the decision to go with the Crusaders lock was met with a mixed response from fans.
Savea's powerful and inspirational style of play was seen as the perfect quality for a leader, and those Savea fans pushing his case will - albeit temporarily - get their wish when the southern hemisphere's giants collide this weekend.
"He's in our leadership group, he's an obvious choice," assistant coach Jason Ryan told media at a press conference on Monday when questioned on the difficulty of the call.
"He's a leader anyway. We're all full of support for Ardie, he'll be great."
The aforementioned expectation is that the team will be without their familiar leader for both Los Pumas Tests courtesy of his torn finger ligament suffered in the clash with Fiji in San Diego, which required surgery.
The team have a one-week gap between the Argentina Tests and their first clash with reigning world champions South Africa in Johannesburg, fixtures that Barrett will no doubt be determined to take part in.
Jordie Barrett will continue to serve as vice-captain and will be joined by Codie Taylor during his brother's absence.
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Latest Comments
The New Zealand performance in the return fixture in 2016 was filthy. A lot of Irish supporters were pretty shocked by it, viewed it as de facto cheating just to avoid another defeat.
Also shocked by the abuse to Ireland, captain, vice-captain and spectators after the full time whistle in Paris defeat, last match.
Sledging is sledging, but that happens during the game and targetting spectators should be completely out of bounds.
The Irish public used to enjoy these matches, even in defeat. Now they are necessary but unpleasant, because NZ apparently cannot accept or respect successful challengers.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
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