Life without Ardie isn’t such a severe problem
It’s the burning question any new Super Rugby Pacific coach would grapple with: how do you replace the most influential player in a team’s history?
Rob Penney at the Crusaders found that with playmaker Richie Mo’unga in a horror start to the season. Clark Laidlaw faced a similar head-scratcher when he took the reins at the Hurricanes, with last year’s skipper Ardie Savea also Japan-bound.
For the latter, Savea’s absence for whatever reason caused minimal disruption.
Their quintet of rampaging loose forwards – Peter Lakai, Brayden Iose, Devan Flanders, Du’Plessis Kirifi and hard-nosed skipper Brad Shields – were rarely bettered this year as the Hurricanes made their best start to a season with eight straight wins, and now hold a one-point lead over the Blues ahead of the two sides meeting tomorrow.
Laidlaw took over from new All Blacks assistant Jason Holland, and insists the significant hole left by the 2023 world player of the year never really preoccupied him.
“Oh, not really. He [Savea] wasn’t here when I arrived, he was at the World Cup and already heading overseas,” Laidlaw said. “So in some ways, it was quite easy that we didn’t have to talk about it too much. It wasn’t like getting an injury, and then all of a sudden he was out, so we prepared knowing that he wasn’t going to be here.
“And maybe the best part has been the young leadership group that stepped into those shoes around driving and leading the team. I think like a Billy [Proctor] ... the way Billy stepped up, the way Asafo [Aumua] stepped up, to support Brad and Jordie [Barrett] and TJ [Perenara] has been good.”
Laidlaw sees the battle of the loose forwards at the breakdown as huge tomorrow as he stacked his Hurricanes, with Flanders and Kirifi launching late off the bench in a 6-2 split.
The Blues have one of the players of the season, Hoskins Sotutu, opposing Iose, with All Blacks Dalton Papali’i and Akira Ioane making up their starting trio. You can almost anticipate the seismic collisions.
For Iose it’s a chance to really stamp his growing All Blacks credentials against the competition benchmark, with Savea also returning to the black jersey this year.
Said Laidlaw: “Hoskins is probably fulfilling all that potential he’s had for a couple of years. He’s had a good pre-season, he’s fit and healthy.
“He’s having big, big minutes and having a big impact in the game. He’s a top tryscorer in the competition … I think he’s playing outstanding, but we expect Brayden to match up.”
Shields, meanwhile, won a title alongside Savea in 2016 and knows what his influence can be. Last year Savea seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders in the yellow jersey, and in 2024 it meant younger players stepping up and filling the void in on-field impact and leadership.
“They are big shoes to fill and the way we’ve talked about it is to try not to put pressure on us to necessarily be like Ardie in terms of how he plays. He brings a special dynamic to any team,” Shields said.
“It’s around enhancing our strengths and how we can play our game. Because the way that we’re playing, fast tempo, physical, we’re ticking all those boxes and that X-factor looks different depending on what sort of player it is.”