Ardie Savea’s first day in Moana Pasifika camp was a hit, with head coach Tana Umaga today saying he could see a shift in the environment already.
Savea signed with the new Super Rugby club earlier in 2024 after spending the last club season in Japan with the Kobe Steelers. The move ended a 10-year stint with his hometown Hurricanes.
While the All Black is still serving his extended summer break after the national team wrapped up their Autumn Nations Series tour against Italy at the end of November, he stopped by on Wednesday, introducing himself to the team and joining some training sessions.
As Umaga revealed on Thursday, the team were a touch star-struck by the recent World Rugby Player of the Year in their midst.
“As soon as he came in everyone was quiet,” Umaga told reporters.
“You could hear his brother (Julian Savea) saying, ‘Just act natural guys. Don’t worry – he’s just like anyone else!’
“So after a bit of a laugh, it kind of mellowed out a little bit, but I did see a bit of intensity and focus come through a bit more, and that’s what we knew we’d get by having Ardie come on board with us.”
The 31-year-old even had the coaches reassessing their training regimen.
“He really humbled the coaches too, because we thought we were being really innovative [in training sessions], but he came in for like two hours and knew what we were doing straight away,” Umaga continued.
“And that’s the beauty of having someone with that experience. Even though he’s not going to be with us until late January, his rugby nous and the sense that he has, it didn’t take him long to pick it up.”
With the marquee signing of the season, more attention and pressure will find Moana Pasifika, who have two last-place finishes and one 11th-place finish to their name so far in Super Rugby Pacific.
Umaga says the players have been challenged to come into camp fit and firing.
“There’s been a lot of onus on them to do some work before they get here.
“Ninety per cent of them have done that, but there’s still a few that probably are a little bit underdone. Those players have been having to work and earn the right to have the pleasure of training out on the field, and instead have been watching from upstairs on a bike.
“We need to work hard this year. We’ve got a lot of things we want to achieve – just like everybody else – but we know those things won’t come without hard work,” he said.
The team have bounced around home venues since joining the league in 2022 and currently call North Harbour Stadium home as they prepare for 2025. However, they aren’t the only ones occupying those grounds.
New A-League side the Auckland Black Knights, partly founded by former All Black Ali Williams, also use the facility as their home training base.
“It’s like flatmates and we’re all on different shifts, but just having them around, and the success they’ve been having, it’s lifted the vibe around here.”
