All Blacks lose skipper Ardie Savea to shoulder injury in defeat by Springboks
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New Zealand captain Ardie Savea walking off the pitch after injuring his shoulder against South Africa on Sept 5.
PHOTO: REUTERS
JOHANNESBURG – Inspirational New Zealand captain Ardie Savea will miss the last Test against South Africa next weekend after suffering a shoulder injury in a 29-24 loss to the Springboks on Sept 5.
The 32-year-old was forced off nine minutes before half-time in a major blow to the All Blacks, who went 2-1 down in the four-Test series dubbed “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry” after a bruising loss at the Soccer City stadium.
Savea had scored two tries before his injury, and his absence allowed South Africa to dominate and go on to clinch victory.
“He won’t travel now (to the US). We’ll work out what it will look like in the next few hours,” coach Dave Rennie said at the post-match press conference.
The 62-year-old added that centre Quinn Tupaea suffered a knee injury and will also be a doubt for the fourth Test in Baltimore on Sept 12.
The All Blacks had led after the first clash against the Springboks a fortnight ago before suffering successive losses.
“They are world champions for a reason. Very good up front and they played a bit of footy tonight,” said Rennie.
“We probably made a few errors that allowed them supply, and I thought they were a lot stronger than they had been in the first two Tests. But it’s not like there is a gap between the two teams, it’s very close. I don’t think it’s a hell of a lot in it.”
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus echoed Rennie’s sentiments.
“I thought it was an epic game, and it was intense, a fierce battle in all departments, and I think the scoreboard at the end showed how close the game was,” the 53-year-old said at the post-match press conference.
“We’re just happy we won, and now we must try and replicate that in Baltimore.”
South Africa’s forward power proved decisive in the end, as was the case in the previous weekend’s second Test in Cape Town, but again the world champions were run close.
“The way New Zealand handle the ball, they’re certainly brilliant at that, and they play to their strengths. It is a style that is hard to defend against. We were certainly nervous, and I think they were nervous too,” Erasmus added.
“It’s massive, this, you’re playing No. 1 and 2 in the world, and it certainly lives up to that and I can tell you now we’re not sitting here thinking, we are all flipping awesome. We’re thinking there was also a lot of luck that went our way.”
Erasmus must now do without speedy wing, and first-choice kicker, Cheslin Kolbe for the US trip after he broke his jaw in the first half.
The series has been characterised as a clash between Bok brute strength and New Zealand pace and finesse with the ball, but Erasmus insisted the scrum battle had also been close.
“I don’t think we were dominant at scrum time today. I think it was pretty even and it could easily have gone against us," he said.
“We love our set piece, we love scrumming but we love mauling just as much.
“It’s not really a South African thing to obsess over the scrum. There were scrums tonight where we were under real pressure and we were relieved when they got the ball away rather than resetting again and again.”
Meanwhile, Australia coach Les Kiss lamented that his side let Argentina “off the hook” after his three-match win streak came to an end as the Wallabies failed to exploit a late two-man advantage in a 28-28 draw on Sept 5.
After Kiss took the reins from Joe Schmidt, Australia secured a 27-21 victory against the Pumas on Aug 29 and had two successes against Japan before failing to capitalise on a 14-0 lead in Mendoza.
Even so, the result gave the Wallabies a 1-0 series win, their first in Argentina.
“It’s difficult to come here and do what we did. But we let them off the hook a couple of times,” said Kiss.
“We were up two tries to nil in that first half, and just gave them field position, gave them opportunity, and that brought the crowd back in, that brought the energy back into their game.
“It was always going to become a dogfight from there on in,” the 61-year-old added.
“But the boys had a lot of defence to do in their own line, and I thought there was some really good stuff that came from that area.” REUTERS