Julian Savea

Sio Julian Savea (born 7 August 1990) is a New Zealand professional rugby union player.

He currently plays wing for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby.

Savea formerly played for in the Top 14 and Hurricanes in the Super Rugby, and is a former captain of the Wellington Lions in the Mitre 10 Cup.

In 2008, Savea made the New Zealand secondary schools team and the Hurricanes academy squad.

In 2009, Savea debuted for the New Zealand sevens at the 2009 Adelaide Sevens.

In 2010, Savea was selected for the New Zealand U-20 team to play at the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina.

He scored 8 tries in the tournament which New Zealand won and was named IRB Junior Player of the year.

Savea was rewarded for his good form by being picked in the 2010 Wellington Lions squad to play in the 2010 ITM Cup.

In 2010 Savea was touted as 'the next Jonah Lomu'.

He marked his first-class debut in July 2010 with a length of the field runaway try that clinched an ITM Cup pre-season win for the Wellington Lions over Canterbury.

He started on the right wing in 12 of 14 ITM Cup games, scoring a further eight tries including a try on championship debut against Tasman and two more the following week against Otago.

While he had a quiet 2011 season, his 2012 form earned him a call-up into the All Blacks for the three-test series with Ireland.

Between 2012 and 2017, he won 54 caps for New Zealand.

He has also represented New Zealand at sevens and at under-20 level.

Savea is nicknamed "The Bus", a moniker bestowed by under-20s coach Dave Rennie.

In 2012, Savea played in his second season for the Hurricanes.

Savea was named in the 2012 All Black squad, his first season of international rugby.

On 9 June 2012, Savea scored three tries on his debut for the All Blacks against Ireland in the first test at Eden Park.

He is the first All Black to score three tries against Ireland in a test match, and the fourth to score three tries on his All Black test debut.

Since his debut, Savea has been one of the most prolific tryscorers in international rugby.

Savea became a regular starter for the All Blacks across his first few years.

Savea was nominated for World Rugby Player of the Year in 2014 and 2015, winning the award for Try of the Year in 2015.

Savea attended Rongotai College in Wellington, New Zealand.

In 2014, Savea was nominated for World Rugby's Player of the Year award, which was ultimately won by teammate Brodie Retallick.

Savea was a key member of 2015 Rugby World Cup winning team, and was the highest try scorer of the tournament, with 8 tries.

Savea is one of the highest try-scorers in New Zealand's history, scoring 46 through the duration of his international career.

Savea was named in the 31-man All Black squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where he scored 8 tries across the tournament having played in many games throughout the tournament.

Savea's 8 tries saw him equal the record for most tries in a single tournament, previously achieved by the late former All Black Jonah Lomu and South Africa's Bryan Habana.

Two of these games played saw Savea score hat-tricks, including a quarter-final game against France.

The hat-trick Savea scored against France saw him being compared to Lomu.

Savea, having been one of the best-performing players of the tournament, was again nominated for World Rugby's "Player of The Year" award which was won by teammate Dan Carter, and was also the winner of "Try of The Year" for one of his tries against France in the World Cup.

Savea had a poor season in 2016 and was benched for the Hurricanes' last 3 matches of the season in the knockout rounds, with Jason Woodward, former All Black Cory Jane and James Marshall the team's preferred back three players by the end of the season.

Savea was also benched for the semi-final against the Lions in Johannesburg the following year after Vince Aso returned from injury.

Savea had been quiet all season, with Wes Goosen replacing him as the starting left wing for the draw to the Lions.

Savea was not selected for the All Blacks for the 2017 Rugby Championship, therefore played his first game for Wellington in four years on the right wing as a result.

Following an injury to Brad Shields, Savea took over the team as captain until Shields returned from injury.

In summer of 2023 Savea signed with Moana Pasifika, a team competing in the Super Rugby championship.

Savea scored 50 tries for the Hurricanes during his Super Rugby career, which ended in 2018 after his signing to Toulon.

Savea played 116 games for the Hurricanes during his Super Rugby career and is one of the most-capped Super Rugby players in history.

Savea played his final game for the Hurricanes during the 2018 Super Rugby season's semi-final, against the Crusaders, on 28 July when the Crusaders knocked the Hurricanes out of the competition, with the Hurricanes losing 12-30.