{"id":384695,"date":"2026-04-17T20:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/384695\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T20:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:08:10","slug":"all-blacks-kiwi-super-rugby-sides-coy-on-signing-ardie-savea-amid-moana-pasifikas-uncertain-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/384695\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks: Kiwi Super Rugby sides coy on signing Ardie Savea amid Moana Pasifika\u2019s uncertain future"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 32-year-old is currently in Japan on his second New Zealand Rugby sabbatical<\/a>. And, unless the national body grants an unprecedented third overseas stint in the same four-year cycle, Savea will return to Aotearoa next year. <\/p>\n

At present, in the days after Moana\u2019s exit was confirmed<\/a>, no club has outright put a target on Savea\u2019s signature, in public at least. <\/p>\n

But, while Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph didn\u2019t mention Savea specifically, wheels are already turning for clubs to snap up Moana\u2019s best and brightest.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone will be scurrying around, not just in New Zealand, to sign some of these players,\u201d he said.\u201d There are some good rugby players in that team, and coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019d be remiss of me to be talking about picking other players, when I\u2019m in the middle of a competition. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut let me tell you this: everyone\u2019s looking, everyone knows the deals. I\u2019d assume because of that, everyone will be handpicking who they want, and seeing who falls out at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he is yet to publicly comment, Herald sources have indicated Savea would prefer to remain in Auckland, after committing to spend 2027 with Moana.<\/p>\n

It is understood Savea\u2019s business interests, which include his clothing label \u2018Asav\u2019 tie him to remaining in New Zealand\u2019s biggest city, while Moana had committed to accommodating his family while still being based in Wellington.<\/p>\n

As first reported by the Herald, that would – theoretically – make the Blues favourites to land him.<\/p>\n

Aside from needing loose forwards with the pair of All Blacks Dalton Papali\u2019i and Hoskins Sotutu leaving for France and England at the end of season respectively, the Blues would have the financial capability to offer Savea the most lucrative deal.<\/p>\n

Speaking after his side\u2019s Super Rugby victory over the Highlanders, though, Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu wouldn\u2019t be drawn on any prospective interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cArdie Savea is a great player,\u201d said Tuipulotu. \u201cAny club would jump at it to have him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always going to add something wherever he goes. That\u2019s his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a safe answer, but we\u2019re focussed on ourselves. We\u2019re not going to worry about that too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a good No 7 at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

One door that could be shut would be a return to the Hurricanes, where Savea made his name after debuting in 2013.<\/p>\n

In the two years since his exit for Moana, the Hurricanes\u2019 loose forward stocks have developed tremendously, boasting the likes of Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi, Peter Lakai, Devan Flanders, Brayden Iose and Brad Shields at the very least.<\/p>\n

But like Joseph, Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw wouldn\u2019t be drawn on specific names, including his club\u2019s former captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be fair, we haven\u2019t even thought about it to be honest,\u201d said Laidlaw. \u201cWe\u2019re preparing for the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt probably feels a wee bit insensitive, almost, thinking about [signing] the players, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a lot of good players up there that are looking for work around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur head will turn if there\u2019s anyone out there we think can strengthen our team. I\u2019m sure all the teams are thinking the same over the next couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 32-year-old is currently in Japan on his second New Zealand Rugby sabbatical. And, unless the national body…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18516,5263,534,9082,8136,28058,46326,114906,3273,194,41654,111,43,139,69,90,1523,31445,199618,13237,13120,6327,9083,26887,48613,313,16641,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-384695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-18516","9":"tag-all","10":"tag-amid","11":"tag-ardie","12":"tag-blacks","13":"tag-certainty","14":"tag-clubs","15":"tag-coy","16":"tag-future","17":"tag-kiwi","18":"tag-moana","19":"tag-new-zealand","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-on","24":"tag-over","25":"tag-pasifika","26":"tag-pasifikas","27":"tag-prospect","28":"tag-remain","29":"tag-rugby","30":"tag-savea","31":"tag-sides","32":"tag-signing","33":"tag-super","34":"tag-uncertain","35":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}