All Blacks warrior Savea fronts up for another battle of wills

Tough, athletic, dynamic and ferociously competitive, Savea is one of the best loose forwards in the game and his absence from the nominations for the World Rugby Player of the Year award over the last two seasons has been baffling.

Back-to-back All Blacks Player of the Year awards show his abiding importance to New Zealand, where many believe he, not the oft-maligned Sam Cane, should be leading the team on a permanent basis.

Savea has played in all three back-row positions since his test debut in 2016 and will travel to France as the incumbent number eight, a position where he makes up for a relative lack of size by sheer force of will.

That was most famously seen recently in his off-the-ball wrestling match with Springboks man mountain Eben Etzebeth during New Zealand's Rugby Championship victory in Auckland, which went viral on social media in July.

That is just one part of his game, however, and an argument could be made that he saved coach Ian Foster's job with an extraordinary performance in New Zealand's win over the world champions at Ellis Park last year.

Savea was everywhere that day, carrying and tackling like a blindside flanker, jackaling with the timing of an openside, sprinting down the wing like an outside back, and offloading with the deftness of a centre.

The younger brother of prolific All Blacks winger Julian, Savea grew up in Wellington's southern suburbs where his childhood hero was All Blacks midfield back Ma'a Nonu.

Savea would follow Nonu to Rongotai College, where he also played in the centres and was captain of the 1st XV, and then on to the Wellington provincial side, the Hurricanes in Super Rugby and the New Zealand Sevens team.

Off-the-pitch, Savea reflects Nonu's humility and commitment to the Samoan community they both grew up in, but presents something of a contrast to the All Blacks great courtesy of his habitual beaming smile.

Nonu won two World Cups with the All Blacks and Savea, who scored New Zealand's only try in their semi-final loss to England in 2019, heads to France looking once again to emulate his hero.

If he fails, it will not be through lack of effort.

Another video of Savea in action went viral in early August after his try-saving strip on Wallabies scrumhalf Tate McDermott almost certainly prevented the All Blacks from falling to their first loss of the year.

He was powerless to prevent the All Blacks suffering their biggest-ever test defeat at the hands of the Springboks in their final World Cup warm-up at Twickenham in late August, but his words afterwards spoke volumes.

"We're going to be better," he told reporters. "A bit of humble pie for us, take those lessons and put it in the gut and let it set, so it helps us for the future.

"They won a battle tonight but there's a war to be won."