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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 Rebels situation is understandably a touchy subject for Geoff Parling but I’m currently listening to a podcast with Mat Rogers who bluntly said “the best thing to happen to Australian rugby union in the last 15 years is the Melbourne Rebels going broke”, citing the better spread of talent across Australian rugby.
Having Skelton in the squad for the Lions series is a must. Yes he’s a 2nd rower who's a lineout lifter instead of a lineout jumper but his mongrel is essential as displayed against Wales in November.
As for the 7-1 bench split, I flip flop between praising Rassie Erasmus and Fabien Galthie for playing to their team’s strengths and being willing to embrace the trade-off that comes with a 7-1 bench composition but also believing World Rugby should stipulate that a bench must have at least 2 specialist backs.
Go to commentsRatings seem hugely generous, they were awful one and all.
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