Ardie Savea

A start against Argentina in New Plymouth was the exception, with Cane replacing Savea in the 44th minute of the 39-22 win.

Despite a good performance, Savea's was overshadowed by Cane and by Vaea Fifita who was Man of the Match.

Although the All Blacks defeated France 49-14 in the third test, winning the series 3-0, it proved Savea to be luckless, with Savea coming off injured in the 16th minute, with Matt Todd replacing Savea.

Ardie Suemalo Savea (born 14 October 1993) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a flanker or number 8 for in the Bunnings NPC, Hurricanes in Super Rugby and international rugby for the New Zealand All Blacks.

In the 2013 Super Rugby season he joined the Hurricanes after signing a two-year deal.

In November 2013, Savea travelled with the All Blacks to Europe, along with his older brother Julian.

This was because "we want to introduce him to the way of the All Black life," said Coach Steve Hansen.

In 2015, Savea was selected for the All Blacks Sevens squad to play in the Wellington 7s series in January 2016.

Savea also became a regular starter for the Hurricanes during the 2015 Super Rugby season, but missed the final due to injury.

After injury to Brad Shields, Savea took over as captain of Wellington for the rest of the 2015 ITM Cup season.

Savea lead Wellington to the final of the Championship division in the absence of Shields, but Wellington lost the final to Hawke's Bay's Magpies, 25-26, with a late conversion from Savea's Hurricanes teammate Ihaia West.

Savea was the first non-playing apprentice to be selected internationally for New Zealand, with future teammates of Savea, Jordie Barrett and Atunaisa Moli, being named as apprentices in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

In 2016, after opting to withdraw from the All Blacks Sevens, Savea was selected in New Zealand's All Blacks squad for the June test series against Wales.

Savea made his debut for the All Blacks, replacing Sam Cane off the bench, on 11 June, against Wales at Eden Park.

Savea made a fine debut, with the All Blacks winning 39-21.

The following week, Savea scored a try in his second match for New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium, his home crowd.

Savea again made his way onto the field by replacing Cane off the bench.

The All Blacks won, again, by 36-22.

Savea was retained in the All Blacks squad for the 2016 Rugby Championship and following an injury to Sam Cane, Savea ended up playing 2 of the Rugby Championship tests as openside flanker.

In his first start for the All Blacks against South Africa in the 2016 Rugby Championship, Ardie scored a try along with his brother Julian, making them the first brothers in the All Blacks to ever do so in the same test.

Savea played 12 tests for the All Blacks in his debut season overall, 10 of them off the bench.

Savea was one of the highest try-scorers for the 2017 Super Rugby season, scoring six that year including a double in the Hurricanes' opening match for the year within the first ten minutes.

The Hurricanes won their opening match 83-17 against the Sunwolves, with Savea playing the full 80 minutes.

Savea was selected in the 33-man squad for the 2017 Pasifika Challenge against Samoa and the three-test series against the touring British and Irish Lions.

Savea started at number 8, against Samoa, because All Blacks Captain Kieran Read had not yet recovered from his broken thumb.

Savea scored two tries in the 78-0 demolition of Samoa and came off the bench as a replacement in all three tests against the Lions in a drawn series.

Despite performing better than starting openside flanker Sam Cane, Savea was retained as an impact player off the bench for most of the 2017 Rugby Championship.

With Matt Todd preferred by All Black coach Steve Hansen during tests, Savea only made two appearances on the 2017 end-of-year tour, starting in wins over the Barbarians and a French XV.

Although the 2018 Super Rugby season proved to be a mixed season for Savea, Savea performed well against France during the mid-year Steinlager series, with his performance in the first two tests including an outstanding try.

Due to Sam Cane's ongoing poor discipline, Savea earned a start at openside flanker during the final test of the series, on 23 June 2018.

Savea missed the 2018 Super Rugby playoffs due to injury.

Savea recovered from his ankle injury in time for the 2018 Rugby Championship, replacing Sam Cane off the bench in both Bledisloe Cup tests against Australia.

Savea's dominance over Australia earned him a start against Argentina's Los Pumas for round 3 of the competition, on 8 September 2018.

Savea lasted the full 80 minutes against Los Pumas, with the All Blacks winning 46-24, but Savea only earned 12 minutes against South Africa's Springboks the following week.

Savea was a member of New Zealand's 2019 Rugby World Cup squad and 2023 Rugby World Cup squad.

He was named the 2023 World Rugby Player of the Year.

Savea has previously captained Wellington, and also previously played for The Barbarian F.C., for the New Zealand U20's team, and the New Zealand national rugby sevens team.

Savea was a member of the Rongotai College 1st XV, captain of the side in his final year of high school and was head prefect in his final year.

Savea played as an outside centre at high school, shifting to the forwards in his professional career.

Savea has represented New Zealand on the international sevens circuit.