'Huge honour and privilege': Savea reacts to ABs Player of the Year Award
All Blacks Player of the Year Ardie Savea has spoken about how much of an “honour and privilege” it is to win the award in a video message online.
Rampaging backrower Savea was simply phenomenal in practically every Test match he played this season, and many believed he was a staggering omission from World Rugby’s dream team.
The All Blacks just wouldn’t be the same team without his tireless work ethic, bulldozing runs that make professionals look like schoolboys, or of course his wild dummy passes.
While Savea truly was in a class of his own for many Test matches this season, look no further than the impact he had during the win over Wales.
Not only did the powerful Number Eight cross for a try late in the piece, but he carried the ball for 15 runs and made 10 tackles without missing any.
That’s world-class.
Savea may have controversially missed out on the dream team, as well as World Rugby’s Player of the Year for that matter, but he was clearly thrilled to have won this award.
In a video message that was shared on Instagram by both Savea and the All Blacks, the 29-year-old gave a “massive shoutout” to fellow nominees Samisoni Taukei’aho and Jordie Barrett.
“I just want to say (it’s) a huge honour and privilege to win the Player of the Year Award,” Savea said in a video shared by the All Blacks on social media.
“It’s pretty special being part of the All Blacks and being part of the brothership and brotherhood of the team.
“Just want to make a massive shoutout to my brothers, the coaches, Samisoni (Taukei’aho) and Jordie (Barrett) for being nominated as well.
“It’s pretty special man. Just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Stay safe in the festive season. To be continued.”
While Savea won the All Blacks’ top honour at the 2022 ASB Rugby Awards on Thursday night, Black Ferns co-captain Ruahei Demant stole the show.
The Rugby World Cup winning co-captain and flyhalf won three awards last night, including the coveted Kelvin R. Tremain Memorial Player of the Year.
Demant was also crowned the Black Ferns’ Player of the Year, and the Tom French Memorial Maori Player of the Year, following New Zealand’s epic win over England in the World Cup final.
Latest Comments
Who got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
Go to comments