All Blacks: The jaw-dropping stats behind Ardie Savea’s ‘exceptional captain’s knock’ against Argentina
All Blacks back-row Ardie Savea takes on the Los Pumas defence.
Ardie Savea had a huge responsibility on his shoulders building into Test two against Los Pumas, but he delivered another exceptional captain’s knock at Eden Park.
When Savea plays well the All Blacks usually win, and luckily for them he was top form in Auckland. The number eight put in a meteoric performance on both sides of the ball in the 42-10 victory, and looked to be close to his best as he continues to blow the cobwebs off from his time out in Japan.
Here is an in-depth look at the stats behind his performance.
Brutal work in attack
Since the introduction of Scott Robertson, the All Blacks have adopted a more direct approach, turning to their pack to bash through the opposition defence, and on Saturday Savea was at the forefront of this.
The Moana Pasifika-bound back-rower led the way for his side with ball-in-hand, making 18 carries in the tight – double the number of second-ranked All Black Will Jordan (9) and the most in the entire game. He also chewed up a solid 44 meters from these carries too, averaging 2.4 meters per run. One of these also allowed him to cross the whitewash.
This might not look that impressive, but again, when you factor in the areas Robertson is now utilising his number eight, as well as the sheer power of the Pumas pack, too, averaging a net-gain is very impressive.
He was also able to beat five defenders across his stint and produced two line breaks.
Whilst the focus will be on his work in the tight, Savea was also influential in getting the outside backs into the game. He produced eight passes – the most of any forward in the whole match – and also chipped in with an assist as well.
Assisting the set-piece
The All Blacks have certainly had their issues at the lineout in Robertson’s first four games in charge. They are fairly short on locks, especially whilst captain Scott Barrett was out injured, but Savea added a decent checkout to go alongside Sam Darry and Tupou Vaa’i.
He won three lineouts in the game, and was used just as much as Ethan Blackadder and the aforementioned duo, Darry and Vaa’i.
Perfect in defence
Whilst the All Blacks dominated much of the possession at Eden Park, there were some periods of the game where Argentina looked to put them under pressure; step forward Savea.
He came up with a tidy 12 tackles across his 80 minutes and boasted a 100% success rate as he missed none of his attempts.
Next up
Savea and his chargers are now back on track in their Rugby Championship defence, but things will get a lot tougher from here.
The All Blacks now head to South Africa for two Tests against a Springboks side in brilliant form. The Boks have scored a collective 127 points in their past three Tests against the Wallabies (30 and 33) and Portugal (64), and will be looking to continue their attacking revolution in the next two rounds of the competition.
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