All Blacks superstar Ardie Savea has opened up about his difficult introduction to international rugby, revealing the doubts that clouded his future after his rookie season and the conversation that helped him persevere to become the global powerhouse he is today.
Savea recalled the story during his appearance in a vlog by popular American creator Donald De La Haye, more commonly known as Deestroying, whose content covering American Football’s 1v1 culture at the community level frequently garners over 10 million views per video and has earned him north of six million subscribers.
The Moana Pasifika captain spent a day with the social media star, taking him through a gym session, explaining rugby and sharing chapters of his story, both personal and professional. Within 24 hours of the video hitting YouTube, just shy of 130k views had been registered.
The day of training culminated in a trip to a recovery facility, and it was in the sauna where Savea was asked about the most trying time in his career.
“In 2016, I made the All Blacks, and I can remember in the media and all that, I was like this superstar, I was the guy coming through,” the 31-year-old replied.
“Being young, you kinda believe that stuff. I didn’t show it on the outside, but yeah. And then the following year, that’s when things just went downhill. Again, I made the team, but wasn’t really picked to play.
“That was something I just wasn’t used to. To my own fault, I was just stubborn. And then in the offseason, I told my wife I wanted to leave New Zealand, and it almost got to the point where I wanted to just quit rugby. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore.
“What brought me back was a conversation with my wife. She just said ‘who cares about selection, coaches, players? Just go there and just have fun.’
“And the following season, I just said I was going to train hard, and just love the work I do. I did that, and since 2018, from then until now…”
Deestroying then asked whether Savea feels like he has hit his peak in the years since 2018, but the All Black grinned and shook his head, responding “never”.
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That being said, Savea also spoke about now being on the other side of 30 and starting to feel how his body doesn’t take the hits quite like it used to.
“Probably in the last year or two, I’ve noticed little things in trainings like power, speed. I used to be the quickest, but now there are guys who are just freakish coming through. But I also try not to think like that, because the moment you start thinking you’re old and slow, it will kind of just happen. And being experienced, I rely on my mental game a lot.”