Savea drama a cloud over All Black-Springbok rivalry

SPOTLIGHT: The Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour could be potentially impacted by the latest All Blacks review, with discontent reportedly brewing between top players and coaches.

All Black stalwart and leader Ardie Savea, who is currently on a sabbatical with Japan Rugby League One side Kobe Steelers, is one of the players who expressed his dissatisfaction with the national side’s coaching environment and team culture, according to the New Zealand Herald.

Savea, who is contracted with NZ Rugby until 2027, is reportedly considering staying with the Steelers or pursuing other playing opportunities with overseas-based clubs, which would make him ineligible for All Black selection under New Zealand’s selection policy, which does not allow the selection of overseas-based players.

The 32-year-old reportedly delivered strong feedback to New Zealand Rugby chairman David Kirk during the 2025 Grand Slam tour.

Head coach Scott Robertson and assistant Scott Hansen are two of the parties who received critical feedback.

According to sources, there’s a split in the All Black camp with leaders in the team not seeing eye to eye, putting Robertson in a compromising position in terms of captaincy selection.

Savea and Scott Barrett both captained the team in 2025, with Barrett being the first choice and Savea stepping in when Barrett was unavailable.

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During Robertson’s two-year tenure, assistant coaches Leon McDonald (2024) and Jason Holland (2025) voluntarily exited the All Blacks midway through international seasons, indicating that the problem is far deeper than it may appear on the surface.

It’s also believed that another All Black flanker declined an invitation to join the team in the final Test of their 2025 northern tour against Wales from the All Blacks XV side.

The All Blacks have been in decline since losing the 2023 World Cup Final under former coach Ian Foster.

They suffered merely three defeats in 2025, but the nature of those losses is concerning and reflects that all is not well in the All Black camp.

For the first time in their history, the All Blacks lost to Argentina away from home before suffering a humiliating 10-43 home loss at Sky Stadium to the Springboks –  the biggest defeat in their history and allowed a 12-point lead to slip against England on their northern tour, going down by 19-33 at Allianz Stadium.

Their July home Test series against a second-string France wasn’t all that convincing either, despite whitewashing the French 3-0.

It also took a late score by Damian McKenzie to save the day against Scotland after allowing a 17-0 lead to slip to win 25-17 in the end and avoid another unwanted record of losing to the Scottish for the first time in history.

Those narrow, unconvincing victories plastered over the cracks instead of addressing the internal issues that have come to light following the latest review.

All these factors could lead to a player revolt and put a damper on the Greatest Rivalry Tour to South Africa in 2026 should the best of the best turn their backs on their national team if something isn’t done urgently to get everyone aligned on the same page.

Local and touring fans want to see the best against the best in a historic milestone moment in the modern game, which rolls back the years of traditional tours, the last of which took place in 1996 between the two foes, which the All Blacks won 2-1.

Beyond the tour, despite having the luxury of some returning players such as Richie Mo’unga and Leicester Faingaʻanuku, the latter of whom made his return to the black jersey in 2025, the All Blacks could find themselves in disarray heading into the 2027 World Cup across the Tasman in Australia, impacting their quest to win a fourth title.

With additional reporting by the New Zealand Herald.