Ardie Savea was not dancing too many jigs in the wake of the statement first-up victory over Ireland. The star All Blacks forward knows he needs to save his energy for what’s coming on Saturday night in Dunedin.
The 28-year-old, 60-test No 8 was at his inspirational best for the All Blacks on Saturday night at Eden Park as they kept intact their 28-year unbeaten record at their home fortress and avenged last November’s defeat in Dublin with a 42-19, six tries to three, performance in the July series opener.
Savea bagged two tries – the first off Aaron Smith’s opportunism and the second pure individual brilliance from the All Blacks No 8 – ran for 61 metres (easily the most by a home forward) and nailed 16 tackles, with just a single miss. It was the firebrand loose forward at his best, and it needed to be.
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The under-pressure hosts overcame a determined Ireland to win the first test at Eden Park.
“It’s satisfying walking off that pitch with the win, especially after past results last year,” he said. “To come out and get a performance like that, it’s pretty special. We’ll celebrate tonight but we know it’s going to be even tougher next week. There were moments that game the Irish put us under immense pressure. We were getting smacked those moments and we need to see if we can nullify that.”
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Much like the All Blacks stewed for seven months on a response to the 29-20 defeat in Dublin last November, Savea expects Andy Farrell’s men to make their own replyon the back of seven days’ soul-searching between Auckland and next Saturday night in Dunedin.
“Like any team, you get smacked like that, you’re going to come back with some fire in your guts,” added Savea. “So we have to as well. There were areas in this game where we were pretty poor and we need to build that fire as well. It’s going to be interesting under the roof.”
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The All Blacks front row of Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Codie Taylor and George Bower set an important foundation at Eden Park.
All Blacks fullback Jordie Barrett, who finished the match in the No 12 spot he’s experimented with this season, backed his Hurricanes’ team-mates assessment of what’s coming in Dunedin.
“It’s awesome, it feels good, but it’s just a start,” he said. “It’s only one test in a three-match series, and we’re kidding ourselves if we think there isn’t going to be a response this week. They’re No 2 or 3 in the world for a reason – they’ve got quality players, they’re not here for a holiday and they showed in periods of the second half and the first 20 they’re here to play.”
The All Blacks forwards laid an important foundation for their Eden Park triumph, clearly winning the scrum battle, meeting, and at times besting, the Irish physicality and laying on enough go-forward for their talented runners to do the damage.
Loosehead prop George Bower, off to an excellent start as the premier No 1 for 2022, said the All Blacks had to be happy with their scrum.
“They build a lot of their pace play off their scrum,” he said. “They love a good scrum to set their game up, and we knew we had to pressure them at the source. We did a job to hold down that scrum and contain their strong scrummagers. Big ups to our back five as well – when you have Sam Whitelock and Brodie [Retallick] pushing behind you, it’s hard to go back.”
It was a similar story in the physicality battle, added Bower.
“We knew if we wanted to play our game we had to be physical, we had to win those collisions, win the gain-line. There were points we were passive, but a lot of the game we dominated in the ball-carry, were direct and it worked out for us.”
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All Blacks skipper Sam Cane liked what he got from his fellow forwards in the series opener against Ireland.
Skipper Sam Cane also signed off on a far more acceptable effort from the forwards than had been on show in those final two matches last November as his side survived a tough opening quarter to take control with four tries in the 20 minutes before halftime.
“We wanted to front up at the set piece first and foremost and the collisions. I thought we defended our goal-line pretty well too. Our set piece was a little bit of a mixed bag, but it was a good start.
“We always thought the first 20 was going to be pretty brutal, and it came down to the collisions, making smart decisions, discipline and the kicking game. All those things combined, we started to get a bit of roll on, some momentum, and that second 20 the game started flowing for us.”
It’s all so simple. When these All Blacks meet the physical challenge up front, they’re almost impossible to peg back. The trick now is to back it up in Dunedin in the face of the response that’s surely coming.
