TJ Perenara’s unequivocal response to All Blacks captaincy question
All Blacks duo TJ Perenara and Ardie Savea.
Experienced scrum-half TJ Perenara has given his support to Ardie Savea to take over the All Blacks’ captaincy from Sam Cane, who ruled himself out of contention for the leadership position.
Star back-row Savea, who has previous experience of skippering his country at Test level, and utility forward Scott Barrett have emerged as the leading contenders to replace Cane as captain after he announced last month that he will retire from international rugby at the end of this season to take up a three-year contract with Japanese club Suntory Sungoliath.
Scott Barrett keen on All Blacks captaincy
On Thursday, it was announced that Barrett had signed a new contract with New Zealand Rugby until 2027 and he revealed that he is “open” to taking the All Blacks captaincy, but Perenara unequivocally feels that long time Hurricanes team-mate Savea is the right man for the job.
“I would,” Perenara told Newshub, when asked if he would like for Savea to be named captain. “He’s arguably the best player in the world. He’s a really good friend of mine.
“I’ve seen the leadership he has within the environments I’ve been in with him. I was in the team when he captained the All Blacks for a while when we were overseas.
“His leadership in that and [the Hurricanes] environment and what he did for our group is amazing.”
The Hurricanes finished at the top of the Super Rugby Pacific’s table after the regular season and are preparing for the tournament’s quarter-finals, but are without Savea’s services as he took up a sabbatical with Japanese outfit Kobelco Kobe Steelers.
He is set to return to New Zealand within the next month and will be available for the All Blacks’ mid-year internationals against England and Fiji during July.
Perenara is not the first All Black to endorse Savea for the captaincy as Blues openside flanker Dalton Papali’i said last month that he would like his fellow loose forward to be rewarded with the role.
Meanwhile, former All Blacks skipper and number eight Kieran Read gave his support to Barrett to become the three-time world champions’ new captain and although Perenara is backing Savea, he feels Barrett would also do well as the team’s leader.
‘He has respect’
“Scott’s a hell of a player,” said the 80-Test international. “He has respect from a lot of the team.
“As someone who’s won seven Super Rugby titles and had a lot to do with the Crusaders leadership group, he clearly leads their environment really well.
“So, there’s two clear candidates.”
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