Ardie Savea calls out one thing All Blacks need to be ‘really ruthless around’ and why they need to ‘keep each other accountable’
Ardie Savea lifts the Bledisloe Cup despite a Wallabies fightback that featured a try from Billy Pollard, inset
Ardie Savea has claimed his All Blacks team must learn to become ruthless again after they saw a 20-3 first-half lead against the Wallabies fritter away in Auckland.
The Aussies cut the margin to three points by the Eden Park interval and they remained in the second-half fight until a 76th-minute try from Cam Roigard proved decisive in securing New Zealand their 33-24 Rugby Championship win.
With the victory coming without a try bonus-point as the try count finished 4-3, it left New Zealand’s lead at the top of the table ahead of Australia at just three points, 14 to 11, before the third-place South Africa, who had 10 points, hosted Argentina in Durban later on Saturday.
All Blacks teams in the past wouldn’t have surrendered a 17-point advantage and gotten drawn into an arm-wrestle like what transpired in Auckland.
“That’s on us…”
It was something Savea touched on at the post-match debrief when asked what he said at the break after the scoreline had gone from 20-3 to 20-17 following Australian tries for Billy Pollard and Harry Potter.
“We talked about just being able to compound good moments,” he revealed about the chat in the Eden Park sheds. “We’d lose the ball at the breakdown, go to the lineout and lose the lineout, and then they would score points.
“For us, it was just about compounding good moments and we did that. I reckon we can be better around when we do get into a good lead, really being ruthless around that. That’s on us, but also credit to the Aussies for always fighting back.
“We wanted to put in a performance that restores some honour back in the jersey,” he added, referencing the record 10-43 loss to South Africa last time out in Wellington. “That started on the Sunday when we came back in as a team.
“We started really well this game and again it’s credit to the Aussies, we knew that they are a great team at coming back and we kind of let them in towards the end of that first half.
“It was a Test match of moments, and we were able to compound a few more moments in that second half and just built points. So, it’s a credit to everyone involved in our team and the challenge now is embracing this win and then getting back on the horse and trying to get back-to-back.”
Next up is Round Six against Australia next Saturday in Perth, and Savea will go into that Rugby Championship finale fully aware of the stickability of Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies after events in Auckland.
“They have got great leaders and players with experience in that squad that know how to build pressure when they are down,” he admitted about the Australian defiance to not give up.
“The thing is, when you are down that much you start to believe in what you are doing and try things to get back in and that is what they did. We didn’t help ourselves with the breakdown, giving them ins in that, but they have just got quality players, quality leaders that are able to get themselves out of positions like that.
“We’d seen it in the British and Irish Lions, against South Africa and Argentina. We will celebrate this win, and then we have got to be hard on ourselves after this. We can’t sit on our laurels and whatnot. We’ll enjoy tonight and get back on the horse and keep each other accountable.”
