{"id":385798,"date":"2026-01-02T01:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T01:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/385798\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T01:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T01:03:09","slug":"ardie-savea-double-helps-kobe-steelers-outclass-verblitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/385798\/","title":{"rendered":"Ardie Savea double helps Kobe Steelers outclass Verblitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

106-Test All Black loose forward Ardie Savea<\/a> has crossed for a double in a recent Japan<\/a> Rugby League One fixture, where his Kobelco Kobe Steelers<\/a> side has outclassed Steve Hansen and Ian Foster\u2019s Toyota Verblitz.<\/p>\n

There were a number of Kiwis involved in the round three contest, including Hansen, Foster, Mark Telea, Brodie Retallick<\/a>, Anton Lienert-Brown<\/a>, Aaron Smith<\/a>, Josh Dickson<\/a>, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Ash Dixon<\/a>, and Savea.<\/p>\n

Retallick, Lienert-Brown, Cowley-Tuioti, and Savea were on the scoresheet for the Kobe Steelers, as they ran away winners, 49-29, in Kobe.<\/p>\n

Savea, who is in his second short-term sabbatical in Japan, had another impressive season for the All Blacks<\/a> under Scott Robertson<\/a>, winning the Player of the Year award at the New Zealand<\/a> Rugby Awards for 2025.<\/p>\n

It was the former All Black lock though, Retallick, who managed to cross the white line first, in the ninth minute.<\/p>\n

Retallick was too big, too strong, as he scored from a pick and go less than a meter from the line.<\/p>\n

Savea then found himself at the back of a rolling maul on the right side of the field, where the Verblitz defenders weren\u2019t able to keep the home side out.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The second half in Kobe was all the home side, after Dixon was yellow-carded in the 49th minute.<\/p>\n

Savea then took advantage of the momentum his side had, showing his class close to the line with another pick-and-go try in the 67th minute.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The final try from the Kiwi contingent was in the 70th minute by the 88-Test All Black midfielder, Lienert-Brown, where he scored almost a carbon copy of Savea\u2019s try.<\/p>\n

Itsuki Kamimura fired a pass to the Kobe Steelers midfielder, before the All Black stepped past one and dived over the line to score the home side\u2019s seventh and final try of the game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Kobe Steelers currently sit third in the Japan Rugby League One<\/a> standings after three games, behind Shaun Stevenson\u2019s Kubota Spears<\/a> and the Saitama Wild Knights.<\/p>\n

Hansen and Foster\u2019s Verblitz side have now lost two out of their opening three games, sitting in ninth before they host TJ Perenara\u2019s Ricoh Black Rams on January 10.<\/p>\n

Savea\u2019s Kobe Steelers take on Tokyo Sungoliath<\/a> on January 10, at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"106-Test All Black loose forward Ardie Savea has crossed for a double in a recent Japan Rugby League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-385798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}