Tietjens’ latest protege heeds brother’s lead
Young player is new cap for Wellington sevens tournament.
Ardie Savea wants to be an actor one day, but the Wellington teenager won’t have stars in his eyes as he prepares for the biggest stage yet of his budding rugby career.
It has become expected for New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens to unveil players with a rare skills and athleticism.
This time around Savea assumes the mantle, the captain of the New Zealand Schools side last year, big, fast, pumped up via the rugby grapevine and still only 18.
It’s an unenviable position, but one he is familiar with after watching older brother Julian shoulder a similar burden these past years.
Like his sibling, Ardie is a schoolboy prodigy out of Rongotai College in Wellington – long jump champion, head boy, third at Mcevedy Shield in the 100m (he has clocked 11.4s) and a key role in musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat for good measure. But if it all seemed too easy, Julian has told his brother not to get ahead of himself after the older Savea hit a few speed bumps last year with both Wellington and the Hurricanes. ‘‘He’s given me heaps of advice. ‘‘I just think for all the media stuff – you can’t let it get to you, the pressure,’’ Ardie said yesterday after training in Porirua. ‘‘We are pretty close, real tight, he said just don’t listen to what other people say to you, believe in what you are doing and go hard. And he said learn from your mistakes.’’
Tietjens doesn’t worry too much about his young player wilting in the Wellington spotlight and Savea gives an insight into why most tend to land on their feet.
‘‘For this week has been awesome coming in as a new guy because these guys have made me feel like I’ve been in the team for ages,’’ he said. ‘‘I was pretty nervous at first being around guys like DJ Forbes but the veterans make you feel like family.
‘‘I’m still learning off the old guys but I’m pretty comfortable. I’d say I’m nervous but excited as well.
‘‘I’ve been sitting at home thinking about playing in the Wellington tournament. It’d be a buzz.’’
Savea’s thespian background is sure to help considering the theatrical aspect of sevens tournaments, and he hopes to study film and media at Victoria University when time allows.
He’s sat in the stands for the past few years ‘‘in a few different costumes’’ and hoped to get down on the paddock, but hadn’t targeted sevens, more focused on his goals as an openside flanker in the 15-a-side game. That’s changed for now, with Savea singled out by Tietjens after he captained the Wellington sevens team at the national tournament in Queenstown.
Savea is now one of only two new caps for New Zealand’s home leg of the IRB World Series. The other is Hawke’s Bay’s Mark Jackman, a product of the Christchurch Boys’ High School factory of five eighths. Savea has pace, strength and anticipation, superb over the ball, but equally comfortable in contact, while Jackman has balance and vision.
They are part of a New Zealand team that has a physically imposing look, bolstered all the more by the presence of Hosea Gear who primed himself with five matches at the Mt Maunganui Sevens on Sunday.
DJ Forbes, Frank Halai, Tim Mikkelson and Solomon King have become fixtures, while rangy Bryce Heem is a bruising figure as is hardrunning Charles Piutau, both of Auckland. Taranaki’s Kylem O’donnell is perhaps the most unlucky to miss the cut, the play-making duties falling to the brilliant Tomasi Cama and the steadying hand of Toby Arnold.
New Zealand’s first match is against Scotland on Friday afternoon.
Toby Arnold (Bay of Plenty), Tomasi Cama (Manawatu), DJ Forbes (Counties Manukau), Hosea Gear (Wellington), Frank Halai (Waikato), Bryce Heem (Auckland), Mark Jackman (Hawke’s Bay), Solomon King (North Harbour), Tim Mikkelson (Waikato), Charles Piutau (Auckland), Lote Raikabula (Wellington), Ardie Savea (Wellington). Fairfax NZ
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