Savea to league ‘a non-issue’
At a glance
The Hurricanes do not expect to lose Ardie Savea to rugby league.
Savea told the Ice Project podcast, hosted by former Warriors halfback Isaac John, he had been thinking about trying his hand at the 13-man code potentially as early as next year.
‘‘One-hundred per cent I want to play rugby league, I think they [the players] do a lot more in terms of off the field stuff. And also, just a new challenge. I want to test myself,’’ Savea said.
The podcast was released on Sunday. Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee has since spoken to Savea about it.
Lee said he was not worried by the comments.
‘‘I had a chat with Ardie to see where he was coming from. We had a good catchup for 10 minutes and at the end of the day he’s shown some interest in rugby league, we don’t know how much seriousness is attached to it, but he’s been on a podcast and has raised the point.
‘‘We’re not worried about Ardie leaving the Canes or rugby.
‘‘A lot of athletes have interest in other sports, they watch other sports . . . he’s expressed an interest in rugby league. We don’t see it as anything more than that.’’
Savea is contracted to New Zealand Rugby and the Hurricanes until the end of 2021 and Lee said there had been no discussion
Hurricanes team to play the Sunwolves: Chase Tiatia, Kobus Van Wyk, Vince Aso, Ngani Laumape, Ben Lam, Fletcher Smith, TJ Perenara, Gareth Evans, Du’Plessis Kirifi, Vaea Fifita, Scott Scrafton, James Blackwell, Tyrel Lomax, Asafo Aumua, Xavier Numia. Reserves: Ricky Riccitelli, Ben May, Alex Fidow, Isaia WalkerLeawere, Devan Flanders, Jonathan Taumateine, James Marshall, Peter Umaga-Jensen.
around that changing.
‘‘We haven’t had any talks with his agent or Ardie formally around what that looks like, and neither have New Zealand Rugby.
‘‘For us, it’s a non-issue, I’ve spoken to him and he’s 100 per cent focused on getting back on the field. For us, it’s not even a blip.’’
That being said, Lee said it did come as a surprise to him.
‘‘He’s on a lot of different social media channels and appears on podcasts. Some of that is just the way the world is now.
‘‘At the end of the day, it was a surprise, but nothing surprises you in the same respect.
‘‘I don’t think it’s serious. It’s a comment he made to a rugby league guy on a podcast – we’ve had a joke about it to be honest.’’
Savea’s progress back from his off-season knee injury has ramped up in recent weeks, with Hurricanes coach Jason Holland saying he could be back sooner than their original plan of the round-13 bye.
Jordie Barrett is playing in the New Zealand Open pro-am during his All Blacks rest week.
The All Blacks fullback has been rested for the Hurricanes’ match against the Sunwolves in Napier tomorrow.
It is one of his two New Zealand Rugby-prescribed rest weeks. Those rest weeks prevent the players from attending training and are designed as much as a mental break as physical, with Barrett likely to have been playing golf if he had stayed in Wellington.
Barrett was paired with Auckland professional Sam An for the pro-am at The Hills Golf Club in Queenstown. He joined his brother, Beauden, and fellow All Blacks Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown at the tournament, but the latter two Chiefs are on a bye, while Beauden remains on extended leave from the Blues.
Barrett wasn’t the only highprofile name missing from the Hurricanes’ 23-man squad when it was named yesterday, with cocaptain Dane Coles also out, but that was due to a little niggle in his injury-plagued calf muscle picked up during training.