Ardie Savea's heir apparent looks to build on 'surreal' rookie year

The Hurricanes will be without the reigning World Player of the Year in 2024. Captain Ardie Savea's sabbatical in Japan leaves a gaping hole in both the squad's talent stocks and leadership.

His absence also breathes an air of opportunity for Wellington's young loose forwards, of which there are many.

Outside of returning club legend and former England representative Brad Shields, the Hurricanes' loose forward stocks consist of five explosive young players with an average age of just 24. The oldest of which is Duplessis Kirifi at 26.

The youngest of the lot is Peter Lakai, who announced his arrival at the professional level with a historic NPC season for a dominant Lions side in 2022. He then started on a number of occasions for the Hurricanes before departing the team prior to the season's end, joining the New Zealand U20 squad to vice-captain them at the U20 World Championship.

"We're a lot younger as a team, but for me, it's just trying to implement my game," Lakai said, acknowledging the absence of Dane Coles as well as his mentor, Savea. "Not much changes; we've still got some good leaders in the team with Dupes (Du'Plessis Kirifi) and Jordie (Barrett), so we should be sweet."

Savea's absence means there's an opportunity in the No 8 jersey in 2024, Lakai's familiar position.

"(Ardie's) been great. He's the best player in the world but he's a better man off it (the field) as well. He was real good with me, helping me off the field, not just for rugby, but asking me how I was off-field-wise. He's someone I look up to and I'm going to miss him this coming season."

Although currently nursing a scaphoid injury, the former North Island Under-14 shotput championship winner is on track to return to full training by Christmas, and he's hoping to continue his winning ways in the new year.

"The first year was pretty surreal, not only winning the Shield but ending up winning the whole thing (the NPC) was a dream season. And this season, coming back in year two, I was a bit older and more mature.

"The first few (Super Rugby) games I played at the start of the year, I noticed the difference in the pace of the game; it was a lot faster than NPC. But after the first few games, I adjusted to it and look forward to making an impact in year two."

Year two for Lakai features a new-look coaching group as well as the on-field changes, with former All Black Sevens coach Clark Laidlaw succeeding Jason Holland who moves on to the new All Blacks set-up.

Laidlaw is familiar to Lakai, having joined the U20s for the recent campaign in South Africa.

"He brings a different style to our previous coach (Jason Holland). Clarky is hands-on and into his team connection stuff. He fits well into the team."

The Hurricanes players are in perhaps the best position in the country when it comes to having world-class facilities on hand, sharing the New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport premises.

"The boys are in there pretty much the whole day, even on weekends. There's saunas, pools, cold pools which is helpful, especially in pre-season when the running load is high and the boys are using the facilities to get things right. And it's very helpful with injury prevention."