Ardie Savea as captain? Ex-All Blacks manager claims leadership role ‘crushing’ Scott Barrett
Ardie Savea and Scott Barrett in action for the All Blacks in 2025.
Former All Blacks manager Darren Shand believes that Scott Robertson may have to make a decision over the captaincy in the near future.
After Robertson took charge following the 2023 Rugby World Cup final he selected Scott Barrett as his skipper.
It was an unsurprising choice given that Robertson and Barrett worked together during their time at the Crusaders, where they won seven Super Rugby titles in as many years.
Many thought Ardie Savea should have been handed the role, however, and those calls have persisted given New Zealand’s mixed form under the new regime.
All Blacks manager under Henry, Hansen and Foster
And Shand, who knows all about the inner workings of the All Blacks having been manager for 20 years before departing in 2023, has given his verdict on the situation.
“Looking from the outside, the captaincy looks heavy on Scott for me, I think that’s one thing they’ve got to think about,” he told Sport Nation’s The Rugby Run.
“Sometimes captaincy lifts you and sometimes it crushes you, and it looks more of the latter for me at the moment.”
Savea is the natural replacement should Robertson decide to make a change and Shand sees him as being akin to a hugely successful and popular All Blacks captain.
“Ardie is very similar to Tana [Umaga], his actions, his personal mana, he’s shown that he can take people with him, so it’s an interesting situation for Razor with both of those,” he said.
“Let’s use the best of both of them to get the best out of both of them.”
All Blacks great Justin Marshall, who was also on the show, agreed with Shand about the captaincy situation.
“There’s something in me thinking, ‘just unleash Scott Barrett and just let him go out there and hurt people and get stuck in’, and not have to worry about dealing with the referee,” Marshall said.
Richie McCaw’s captaincy
Savea may not be a huge talker but Shand reckons that his style of leading by example is one that works incredibly well as a skipper.
He referenced double World Cup winner Richie McCaw, one of the greatest rugby captains ever, as someone who would go about his business in that way.
“How you turn up everyday as a leader, be it a player or a coach, has massive implications for others. If they turn up in the right mindset, I think that’s a really inspiring way to lead.
“You don’t want to be a leader that’s going to pick everyone up, you want to be the leader that’s taking people with you.
“I quite often talk about this with McCaw. He was always the first player on the training pitch ready to go and it was like, ‘come on, are you guys ready? Let’s get going’. Those type of behaviours really matter.”
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