What Julian Savea said to Ardie after All Blacks captaincy announcement

Ardie Savea has revealed what older brother Julian said to him following last week's announcement that he will captain the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship.

The younger Savea brother was named captain of the All Blacks on Saturday in the absence of Sam Cane, Sam Whitelock and Aaron Smith, all of whom are either injured or aren't part of the squad due to the arrivals of their respective babies.

That left All Blacks head coach Ian Foster to announce Savea as captain of the squad, which is currently based in Australia, until the aforementioned trio return to the national set-up.

Savea will be supported by lock Brodie Retallick and first-five Beauden Barrett, both of whom have been named as vice-captains.

The appointment of Ardie as All Blacks skipper comes four years after Julian last played for the New Zealand national side in a test career that spanned six seasons between 2012 and 2017.

The older Savea sibling established himself as one of the greatest All Blacks wings of all-time over that period as he crossed for 46 tries in just 54 tests.

With that much experience and such a formidable reputation to his name, Ardie said he has often leaned upon Julian for advice and support throughout his career.

After his captaincy announcement, though, Ardie said Julian was left with little to say when the news was broken to the Savea family over a FaceTime call.

"I FaceTimed my family and Jules was on the call and I kind of just let him know," Savea said on Saturday.

"He was happy. He kind of doesn't say much, but when he smiles and he says he loves you and he's proud of you, coming from someone like Bus, it means a lot.

"He's always been supportive. He's my guy that's always there for me, so I think he's happy."

After the announcement was made public over the weekend, Julian took to Twitter to congratulate Ardie in a post that read: "Proud older brother!! Love you uso."

Ardie will have his first opportunity to captain the All Blacks this weekend when New Zealand take on the Wallabies in the final Bledisloe Cup test of the year at Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday.