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New Zealand's Savea hailed for heroics in his 100th Test / Photo: Michael Bradley - AFP
New Zealand's Savea hailed for heroics in his 100th Test
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson said Ardie Savea's reputation as a player who "makes the big plays" was enhanced by his heroics in their 24-17 Rugby Championship win over South Africa on Saturday.
Back-row great Savea was a standout in his 100th Test, capping his performance with a crucial ruck turnover to deny a Springboks attack 90 seconds from the end.
It was typical courage from the 31-year-old, who captain Scott Barrett described as New Zealand's "spiritual leader".
Robertson said he and the coaching staff were on their feet in the stands when Savea made his critical late steal.
"I was just so pleased. He's a person that makes big plays and he sums them up beautifully. It was his moment on the 100th," Robertson said.
"He's a guy that's so mentally tough, physically tough and just keeps getting up and he did reflect the Test match for us."
Barrett said New Zealand were motivated to win the match for former world player of the year Savea, who can be rated among the best All Blacks players of the past decade since the retirement of Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.
"I'm personally proud of the way the rest of the 23 guys fronted up for Ardie," Barrett said.
"He's a spiritual leader within our team. So we wanted to make that special."
Frustrated Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus said he would make changes to his world champion side for next week's second match after a wasteful performance in which they spurned numerous chances through poor ball control.
Erasmus said his original plan was to play a similar team in both matches of the New Zealand tour, but a lack of ruthlessness had altered his thinking.
"I was probably looking for positives in the performance but there were spells that were terrible. But then there were really gutsy spells," he said.
"Before this game we thought we'd go with more or less the same team next week, but we'll definitely make a few changes."
Erasmus refused to blame the slippery conditions for his team's high error count.
"New Zealand played in exactly the same weather with the same ball and their ball control was much more steady and you can't pinpoint why," he said.
"I don't think they did anything illegally, we just didn't control it well enough."
O.Pardo--HdM
