ardie savea lives up to the hype,,,

Savea the headliner, but Hammett praises entire pack

Not only did he top the tackle count for both teams, but kept the rage going for the entire match, with his tackle on fellow prodigy Michael Hooper – labelled as a Wallaby in waiting – an absolute top drawer example of how a number seven should tackle an opponent.

He stood firm against a Hooper charging at him at pace in the 69th minute, knocked him down, released him, and then pounced like a wild cat over the loose ball.

Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett praised the move saying how noticeable Savea’s efforts were on the field.

"We will sit down and look at the finer parts of his game, but if you were watching as a fan you couldn't help see how dynamic he was with the ball in hand,” Hammett said.

"I think it was the 70th minute, tackle, up, steal.”

“Those things are pretty priceless. He had a really good start.”

Most pleasing for Hammett and the Hurricanes was how a pack with multiple changes didn’t skip a beat, but further to this how the set piece, pinpointed in some quarters as a glaring weakness for the men from the capital, was in powerful form against a Wallaby laden Waratahs team.

Ben Franks, Victor Vito, Jeremy Thrush, Dane Coles and Karl Lowe were all missing, five players whose absence in theory should guarantee the rival pack honours.

But not in Wellington last night, as the Hurricanes not only continued to showcase their wonderful attack, but added some significant starch up front while proving they have considerable squad depth.

All in all a good night in the office for a team that has now won four straight.

"It was extremely significant. When you take five of your starting guys out of that forward pack,” Hammett said.

"I think we have a pretty well-rounded squad and pretty good depth. That's easy to talk about but that was the challenge tonight to actually put that into place. It wasn't faultless, but it was seamless in terms of the set piece, some of the aggression and dominance at the tackle."

very happy with ardie saveas perforamnce in his debut spXV game, as we all know its not easy for youngsters to make the level of impact that ardie savea, even more impressive cos he turned 19 in october.

while im glad he lived up to the hype, i hope he concntrates on consistency and maintaining a high level of accuracy with his fundamentals with the same amount of gusto.
watching him blow away the waratahs and in particular wallaby incumbent micheal hooper was particularly satisfying.

other then his outstanding workrate around the breakdown which included a pilfer and forced turnover, he was also a strong ball carrier, but his 21 from 21 tackles, that was something special.

from both a hurricanes and All Blacks point of veiw, im very happy with the potenttial that the future holds in regards to ardie savea the next big thing.

Tx Sasu, It's great getting the view from the other side, you've once more vindicated my belief that this board stands head and shoulders above any other with it's international flavour or view from the "other side." Had we remained a purely Saffa site we would have choked on boredom. Keep it coming!

Sasue

You are not a friend at all - you bugger LOL.  You took Savea as your one loosie and I took the dolt Matt Todd based on hsi game against the Stormers.  Could you not have warned me earlier - remember we do not get media reports on young New Zealand  players and I knew nothing about Savea - bar his name.

You will not catch me again.  Next round he is in and Todd is out.  My final obective is to have Labuschagne, Coetzee, Savea and  Cane as my loosie combinations.  The latter is an over-prized player.  

I am also sooner rather than later getting rid of Gear -  with Nonu at 12 and him never seeing balls - in a hapless Highlanders team he is a waste of money as an OB player.  I am again looking at Folau to replace him.  Wish i can get rid of both Gear and Williams simultaneously - but that one of them will have to remain for another week.

The next on my list of priority buys is Kahui of the Chiefs at center - but that probably will have to wait in view of the upcoming bye of the Chiefs.   I must also try and get Slippr back at prop and get rid of Sam Whitelock asap.  

Not saying I am going for that change immediately - I am waiting for the team announcements first.  Genia is the top of my priorites also.