Moana Pasifika v Blues
Kick-off: 7:05pm Saturday 17 May
North Harbour Stadium, Albany
Live blog updates on RNZ Sport
Ardie Savea is mulling a return to Moana Pasifika colours next season, despite his original deal with the Super Rugby Pacific expansion side stipulating the option for a lucrative sabbatical in 2026. Savea spent last season playing for the Kobelco Kobe Steelers in the Japan Rugby League One, before returning and making the shock decision to move from the Hurricanes to Moana last July.
"I still haven't decided that yet," said Savea at Moana training.
"It's something that my (management) team is talking about. I love it here…also, you know, like, obviously looking after the family as well and whatnot. So it's a decision still to be made."
While the reigning World Rugby Player of the Year would likely pick up a massive pay day returning to Japan, the impact he's had on Moana this year is astronomical. Despite a move to the unfashionable North Harbour Stadium, his presence has ensured decent crowds after three seasons of struggling to attract any attention at all.
On the field, Savea's form has been outstanding, to the point that Moana is now challenging for an unlikely play-off spot. That may well be decided this Saturday when they take on cross-town rivals the Blues, a side they lost to back in round nine.
"I think we probably got bullied, our forward pack" Savea sad about the 36-17 result at Eden Park.
Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu celebrates his try in the first half during the Super Rugby Pacific - Blues v Moana Pasifika at Eden Park. Photo: Brett Phibbs / www.photosport.nz
"It starts there, like, if you're not winning up front, set piece ball, then that's going to be a long day for our backs. We know how physical, how big our Blues brothers are and how they play the game. And I thought we didn't deal to that too well last time. So we've got to front up and turn up, first and foremost. I think if we do that, it gives us the best chance to put ourselves in a position to win."
Coach Tana Umaga said that the key to shutting down Beauden Barrett, who had his best performance of the season when the teams last met, was to simply "go forward".
"Every team can play well on the back of go forward (ball) and we know what their forward pack are going to bring. They're big and brutal and the backline is big and brutal, as they included obviously Caleb Clarke. So even bigger and more brutal," said Umaga.
"So you know for us we've got to make sure that we can contain and get them going backwards in that contact area, because that's what they're very good at doing to other teams. And as they've shown, if you can't keep can't stop that that go forward then it becomes a hard day."
Umaga has once again rotated his all-important first fives, this time favouring Patrick Pellegrini over Jackson Garden-Bachop.
"I just flip a coin most days and just see how it goes," joked Umaga.
"We're really fortunate that we've got two 10s that are playing really well. We kind of have a look at how we want to start the game, we look at how we want to finish the game. We know that they're going to be very physical. They're going to come at us, we just want to make sure that we've got opportunities to play whenever we want, knowing that when teams get tired, we can inject some experience."
