Savea backs debutant Love to deliver as All Blacks face full-strength France scepticism

Ardie Savea has thrown his full support behind Ruben Love as the 25-year-old prepares to make his first start at No.10 for the All Blacks in their Nations Championship opener against France, with the new captain insisting his former Hurricanes teammate needs no hand-holding ahead of the occasion.

Savea revealed he sought Love out early in the week to check on his mindset, only to be met with quiet confidence from a player who delivered a Man of the Match performance in the Super Rugby Pacific final just a fortnight ago.

“There’s something special about that boy,” Savea said. “He doesn’t need any help. I go to him and say, ‘you sweet?’ he said ‘I’m good.’ You’ve just got to leave space for those boys to do their thing.”

Love has accumulated just 179 minutes of Test rugby to date — 7,772 fewer than last year’s preferred No.10 Beauden Barrett — but has been selected to front new head coach Dave Rennie’s more expansive approach. Savea described Rennie’s vision as one built on attacking intent without sacrificing physicality. “He wants us to play with optimism, but also with a bit of brutality. He’s big on effort, so for us, those are the rock-solid foundations that we need to go out there and perform.”

Despite France being without nine Top 14 finalists who will link up with the squad next week in Australia, Savea was emphatic in rejecting any suggestion New Zealand face a second-string opponent. “I think it’s rubbish,” he said. “The French are the French. If you look at their depth and their competition, they’ve got world-class players from one to 100 in their top players. It doesn’t matter what team they bring out.”

Savea pointed specifically to Bordeaux pair Marko Gazzotti and Pierre Bochaton, as well as openside Oscar Jegou, as evidence of the threat France still carry. “Their loose trio is outstanding. We understand that, but also looking forward to the challenge.”

The captaincy itself appears to be drawing something extra from Savea, who said the role allows him to lead authentically. “It’s making me feel seen, it’s giving me space to lead, it’s giving me opportunities to just be my authentic self. For me, it’s just about encouraging and empowering my teammates to be better — mainly better men, and hopefully better players.”

That philosophy will be put to the test immediately, with debutants Xavier Numia and Fehi Fineanganofo both named on the bench for the match.