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When Ardie Savea received a text message from All Blacks coach Ian Foster on Friday his mind started scrambling, wondering what he might have done wrong.
“I just got a text from Foz and I thought I was in trouble,” Savea told reporters.
“I was stressing out, wondering, what have I done? I searched the media to see if I’d done anything, but he just sat me down and mentioned it to me. I was literally shaking.”
The news Foster delivered was all good – Savea was named to captain the All Blacks for the first time in Sunday’s Bledisloe 3 against Australia in Perth.
Sam Whitelock, who stood in for injured Sam Cane as captain in the first two matches is one of three players staying at home with babies imminent. Aaron Smith, who has 101 Test caps, is another who would have been deemed captaincy material, while Richie Mo’unga is also missng.
???????????????? proud older brother!! Love you uso @ardiesavea https://t.co/k2vKHLFxBz
— Julian Savea (@juliansavea7) August 28, 2021
Savea was emotional as he spoke to NZ outlets from the team camp in Perth.
“To be able to lead such a team, it’s out of this world when I think about it,” Savea said. “And to be able to tell Mum and Dad was huge.
“Two people that migrated from Samoa to create a better life for their kids – sorry, I’m getting a bit emotional – to be here for them is pretty special.
“I’m still in awe. It’s a team that you dream of as a kid, and being able to lead is amazing. I’m lost for words and really grateful.
“Just to be named in a team was a goal that seemed so far away, but everything happens for a reason and I’m just going to embrace it.”
Savea will have the support of newly named vice-captains Brodie Retallick and Beauden Barrett.
“I’m nervous but I’m excited as well, and I know I’ve got great leaders around me that I can lean on,” Savea said.
“It’s amazing having those two lads right beside me. Guzz [Retallick] brings a lot of experience and fire and Baz [Barrett] is just cool, calm and collected, and he’s controlling our game over here.
(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)
Savea has captained the Hurricanes in Super Rugby.
“A big thing is just being myself and leading the way I usually lead, which is just trying to do it through actions,” he said. “I’m not a quiet dude but I usually go about things in a quiet way, so I won’t change much.”
Foster’s explanation of the decision was telling, and suggested he went for Savea for emotional rather than tactical reasons with the tour unusually long and demanding due to COVID.
“In some ways it’s a changing time and we’ve gone with a changing strategy,” Foster told NZ radio Newstalk ZB.
“Ardie has been a key part of our leadership group and I love that he has a very different style of leadership.
“He’s very empathetic, he’s got a great affinity right across the group and reads the group well from a family and emotional side, and I think that’s a really important quality to have in the situation we’re in.
“He’s a growing man in the environment and I’m delighted; I think he’s got a great feel for the team and it will be a great learning curve for him too.”
Foster also revealed that former NRL star Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has shared some advice with him about his experience of being with the Warriors and dealing with being away from home for a long stretch.
The All Blacks have arrived in Australia and won’t see home until late November.
“I’ve had a good chat to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in Auckland before we left about what it was like over there and some of the things that were working,” Foster told Newstalk ZB.
“Because, particularly the Warriors, they’ve done an amazing job. I know they haven’t got the results that they wanted but it’s been an amazing circumstance what they’ve had to go through. There have been some lessons out of there.
“But we also like to find our own solutions at times, so whilst we’re open to what other teams are doing, I think the key is that we don’t treat any week as being the same as the last one; we just look at where the group is at and what we feel we need.”