Ardie Savea is looking forward to the All Blacks’ upcoming Grand Slam campaign and is wary of the threat that England will pose at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

Savea was recently included in All Blacks coach Scott Robertson’s 36-member squad for next month’s 2025 Grand Slam tour, which kicks off against Ireland in Chicago on November 1.

They will then head to the United Kingdom to take on Scotland at Murrayfield on November 8, England at Twickenham on November 15, and Wales at the Principality Stadium on November 22.

New Zealand have completed a Grand Slam tour against the four Home Nations four times, in 1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010.

Savea only made his All Blacks debut in 2016 and admitted that he was initially not aware of the significance of a Grand Slam campaign.

‘I kind of didn’t understand what it was’

“I think it’s really exciting. I think when we were told it was a Grand Slam, I kind of didn’t understand what it was until the last couple of weeks being at home,” he told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.

“I’ve kind of got a feel and understand the privilege it is to get the opportunity.

“Not many people do. It’s a great challenge for this team to go over there and try and achieve that. You’re playing against the best teams in the world over there in their home ground.

“You couldn’t ask anything more as a footy player.”

Since 2014, New Zealand and England have faced each other 10 times, and the All Blacks have been victorious in eight of those encounters.

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England managed one victory over the men in black during that period, and that was a memorable 19-7 triumph in their 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final in Japan.

However, since 2014, four Tests between New Zealand and England were contested at Twickenham with the Red Rose’s best result at the famous venue being a 25-25 draw, which they secured in 2022.

And although New Zealand have won all three of the other Tests in England’s backyard, they had to dig deep for those victories as their biggest winning margin at the ground was by a meagre three points in 2014 when they clinched a 24-21 win.

Further narrow victories for the All Blacks

The All Blacks’ other recent clashes with England at Twickenham saw them securing further narrow triumphs in 2018 (16-15) and last year (24-22), but it’s that drawn Test in 2022 which Savea still remembers vividly, and he feels England’s supporters have a lot to do with how their players perform.

“I think when you’re up, the crowd’s silent,” he explained. “When you start to concede moments and points, back-to-back-to-back, you start to hear and feel the crowd get behind the team.

“I think when we played England last time (in 2022), we got out to a hefty lead.

“We let them back in and we drew the game. You could just see their confidence grow through the atmosphere, through the crowd and just through their belief.

“Over there, you’ve only got each other.

“We’ve only got the ABs there and our fans there. For us, we’ve got to make our stamp. We’ve built good momentum the last two weeks, and we’re trying to build off that.”

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