{"id":344961,"date":"2025-08-14T22:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344961\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T22:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:23:10","slug":"scott-robertson-selects-ardie-savea-at-eight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344961\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Robertson selects Ardie Savea at eight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ardie Savea has been shifted to number eight in the continued absence of Wallace Sititi and Luke Jacobson for the All Blacks\u2019 clash against Argentina.<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite now being seen as an openside flanker long-term and duly featuring there in the opening two France games, the world-class back-rower has been forced to fill in at the base of the scrum.<\/p>\n

Savea was also initially named at seven ahead of the third match \u2013 albeit he shifted to eight after Jacobson\u2019s late withdrawal \u2013 and he was expected to be at flanker for the Rugby Championship.<\/a><\/p>\n

Number eight injuries and omissions<\/p>\n

Scott Robertson<\/a> picked a plethora of players capable of playing in the position in his wider training squad, despite omitting Christian Lio-Willie, who was at the base in the first two French encounters.<\/p>\n

However, two of those, Jacobson and Sititi, remain on the sidelines, while Simon Parker \u2013 capable of playing at both six and eight \u2013 is yet to earn his first cap.<\/p>\n

Robertson therefore resisted the temptation to bring Parker straight in and has instead moved Savea as he forms a loose trio with Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi and Tupou Vaa\u2019i.<\/p>\n

It is the only significant selection call from the head coach in the starting line-up with the rest of the All Blacks<\/a> XV pretty much as expected.<\/p>\n

In the backline, Cortez Ratima is handed a starting role following the injuries to Cam Roigard and Noah Hotham and is partnered by the fit-again Beauden Barrett at half-back.<\/p>\n

The staggering Richie Mo\u2019unga and Beauden Barrett statistics which suggest Scott Robertson has made the wrong call<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Barrett\u2019s brother, Jordie, is at inside centre and he once combines in the midfield with Billy Proctor, while Will Jordan, Sevu Reece and Rieko Ioane are the back three.<\/p>\n

There is a third Barrett among the forwards as captain Scott has recovered from injury to take his place alongside this year\u2019s breakout star Fabian Holland.<\/p>\n

The XV is completed by Fletcher Newell, who deputises at tighthead in the absence of Tyrel Lomax for the third time this year, Codie Taylor and Ethan de Groot.<\/p>\n

More of the intriguing calls are on the bench as Finlay Christie gets in ahead of Kyle Preston as Robertson opts for experience in the Rugby Championship opener.<\/p>\n

That is also the case in the selection of Anton Lienert-Brown in the 22 shirt, who gets the nod instead of the younger Quinn Tupaea and Timoci Tavatavanawai.<\/p>\n

Samipeni Finau has another opportunity to impress, despite an underwhelming season at both Super Rugby and Test level, and he is joined among the replacements by Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho, Ollie Norris, Pasilio Tosi, Patrick Tuipulotu and Damian McKenzie.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a great week of training in Buenos Aires and the group is ready to go out and perform. Scott and our leaders have led from the front and there\u2019s a lot of focus and motivation in the group for the start of the campaign,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the Pumas identity is a fast and physical game and we\u2019ve selected a team that will embrace the occasion. It\u2019s been 30 years since the All Blacks played in C\u00f3rdoba and we are looking forward to the passion and energy of the home crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks team to face Argentina<\/p>\n

All Blacks:<\/b> 15 Will Jordan, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi, 6 Tupou Vaa\u2019i, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Scott Barrett (c), 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements:<\/b> 16 Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Samipeni Finau, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Damian McKenzie<\/p>\n

Date:<\/b> Saturday, August 16
Venue:<\/b> Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Cordoba
Kick-off:<\/b> 18:10 local (09:10 NZST Sunday, 22:10 BST, 21:10 GMT)
Referee:<\/b> Pierre Brousset (FFR)
Assistant referees:<\/b> Nic Berry (RA), Morn\u00e9 Ferreira (SARU)
TMO:<\/b> Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
FPRO:<\/b> Damon Murphy (RA)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Rugby Championship preview: All Blacks to fall agonisingly short as Scott Robertson\u2019s teething issues continue for perennial winners<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ardie Savea has been shifted to number eight in the continued absence of Wallace Sititi and Luke Jacobson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[18129,10105,225,90462,704,12,122477,4151,33131,18132,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-344961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-ardie-savea","9":"tag-argentina","10":"tag-home-page","11":"tag-internationals","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-popular","15":"tag-rugby","16":"tag-rugby-championship","17":"tag-scott-robertson","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115029462462393648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}