All Blacks legend Kieran Read has revealed that he would prefer Ardie Savea to focus on playing on the flank instead of number eight for the men in black.<\/p>\n
Savea made his Test debut against Wales at Eden Park in 2016 and since then he has made more than 100 appearances for the All Blacks, packing down at number eight as well as on the openside and blindside flanker positions for his country.<\/p>\n
This past Saturday, he captained the All Blacks<\/a> from the number eight position during a narrow 34-32 Nations Championship triumph over France alongside Luke Jacobson and Peter Lakai, who started on the openside and blindside respectively in an exciting back-row.<\/p>\n Read<\/a> appeared on The Good, The Bad & Rugby<\/a> podcast alongside former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall and ex-Wallabies hooker Jeremy Paul and the latter said he feels Savea should be playing on the openside flank instead of number eight.<\/p>\n \u2018He needs to touch the ball 10, 15 times a game\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just going to throw this hand grenade here. Ardie Savea at seven. Look, for me, personally, he needs to touch the ball 10, 15 times a game, like as in running, like he needs, and every time I\u2019ve seen him play seven, he gets his hands more on the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if this is a structural thing within New Zealand. I know you guys play that two, six, eight, seven split where they\u2019re running those sort of channels, the 15 metre channels, but I just, I just felt like Ardie\u2019s such a good player.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had one incredible run, but he\u2019s normally doing that seven, 10 times a game if he\u2019s playing at seven.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I would like to see him at seven.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We will not win big events with the current way of playing\u2019 \u2013 Sir Graham Henry\u2019s honest admission after All Blacks\u2019 victory over France<\/a><\/p>\n Former All Blacks skipper and number eight Read, who made 127 Test appearances for his country, agreed and said he feels Savea makes a greater impact on the game when he plays as an openside flanker.<\/p>\n