Julian Savea

At 33 years old, Julian Savea has this physical status:

Julian Savea (born 7 August 1990) is a New Zealand rugby union player.

In the Top 14, he now plays wing for Toulon.

Savea used to play for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby and is a former Wellington Lions captain.

He earned 54 caps for New Zealand between 2012 and 2017. He has also represented New Zealand at sevens and at under-20 levels.

Savea has been given the nickname "The Bus," a moniker bestowed by under-20s coach Dave Rennie.

Savea was a key member of the 2015 Rugby World Cup winning team, and he was the highest try scorer of the tournament with 8 tries.

Savea is one of New Zealand's top try-scoring players, scoring 46 points in totality over his international career.

Savea was nominated for World Rugby Player of the Year in 2014 and 2015, as well as the 2015 award for Try of the Year.

Personal life

Savea is of Samoan descent. Ardie's younger brother is also a Hurricane and All Blacks player.

Savea was charged with domestic violence involving his partner in April 2013. After Savea completed police diversion, the charges were eventually dismissed. Savea had previously appeared on posters for an anti-domestic violence campaign, titled "It's Not OK."

Savea married Fatima, his girlfriend of three years, in December 2015. The couple revealed on Instagram that they are expecting their first child in December 2017. Jude Telesia Savea's daughter was born on December 7, 2017.

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Early career

Savea attended Rongotai College in Wellington, New Zealand. Savea made the New Zealand secondary schools team and the Hurricanes academy squad in 2008. Savea made her debut at the 2009 Adelaide Sevens in 2009. Savea was selected for the New Zealand U-20 team in Argentina in 2010. He scored 8 goals in the tournament, which New Zealand won, and was named IRB Junior Player of the Year. Savea was rewarded for his good form by being selected in the 2010 Wellington Lions squad to participate in the 2010 ITM Cup. Savea was dubbed "the next Jonah Lomu" in 2010.

Domestic career

Savea played in his second season for the Hurricanes in 2012. Although he had a quiet 2011 season, his 2012 form earned him a call-up to the All Blacks for the three-test series with Ireland.

Savea had a poor season in 2016 and was suspended for the Hurricanes' last three games of the season, with Jason Woodward, former All Black Cory Jane and James Marshall as the team's preferred back three players by the time. Savea was also ineligible for the semi-finals against the Lions in Johannesburg the following year after Vince Aso returned from injury. Savea had been quiet all season, with Wes Goosen replacing him as the Lions' starting left wing.

Savea played 50 tries for the Hurricanes during his Super Rugby career, which came to an end in 2018 after his signing to Toulon. Savea played 116 games for the Hurricanes during his Super Rugby career, and he is one of the mostcapped Super Rugby players in history. Savea played his last game for the Hurricanes against the Crusaders on July 28th, when the Crusaders knocked the Hurricanes out of the tournament, with the Crusaders losing 12-30.

He made his first-class debut in July 2010 with a stretch of the field runaway try that gave the Wellington Lions their ITM Cup pre-season victory over Canterbury. In 12 of 14 ITM Cup games, he started on the right wing, scoring a further eight tries, including a shot on championship debut against Tasman and two more against Otago the following week.

Savea was not selected for the 2017 Rugby Championship and played on the right wing for the first time as a result. Savea took over the team as captain after Brad Shields sustained from injury.

International career

Savea was named in the 2012 All Black squad, his first season of international rugby. Savea's debut for the All Blacks against Ireland in the first test at Eden Park on June 9, 2012, scored three tries on his debut for the All Blacks against Ireland. He is the first All Blacks to score three tries against Ireland in a test match, and the fourth to score three tries on his All Black test debut. Savea has been one of the best tryscorers in international rugby since his debut.

Savea made a regular starter for the All Blacks for the first few years. Savea was nominated for the World Rugby Player of the Year award in 2014, which was ultimately won by teammate Brodie Retallick.

Savea was selected in the All Black squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where he scored 8 tries in the tournament, having appeared in several games throughout the tournament. Savea's 8 attempts tied for the most tries in a single tournament, previously held by late All Black Jonah Lomu and South Africa's Bryan Habana. Savea scored hat-tricks in two of these games, as well as a quarter-final game against France. Savea's hat-trick savea against France saw him being compared to Lomu. Savea, one of the best-performing participants of the tournament, was once more named for World Rugby's "Player of the Year" award, which was also named for one of his World Rugby's "Player of The Year" for one of his World Cup challenges against France.

Despite winning tries in 2016, Savea was still out of form. When Waisake Naholo returned from injury, he was selected over Savea as the starting left wing, with Israel Dagg on the right wing. Savea continued to play internationally due to injuries to Naholo and Nehe Milner-Skudder, the latter of whom did not play internationally all year due to shoulder reconstruction surgery. When Savea touched down against Australia in Sydney on August 20, 2016, he came off the bench to become the fifth New Zealander to score 40 tries in international rugby. Savea was the first to do so as this was his 44th match. As the All Blacks defeated the Wallabies 42-8, he overtook former All Black wing Joe Rokocoko's record of 40 attempts from 46 tests.

Savea scored his way across the chalk against Samoa on June 16, 2017, his 46th test attempt during the 78-0 victory. Savea became the second highest try scorer of an All Black, tying with Rokocoko and former All Black fullback Christian Cullen.

Savea went from his starting position in the Blacks to rookie Blues wing Rieko Ioane for the first two tests against the British and Irish Lions in 2017, but he started in the third test on July 8, 2017, following injury to Waisake Naholo and Ioane, who was in the black jersey for the final time. Savea lost a potential try and was abused on defense as a result.

Savea was dropped from the All Blacks squad for the 2017 Rugby Championship after poor results across the 2016 and 2017 seasons, with Ioane, Naholo, and Hurricanes teammate Nehe Milner-Skudder all recovering from injury and sickness.

Savea was not called for international rugby because of numerous injuries to the All Blacks' outside backs in the 2017 season, with Seta Tamanivalu, David Havili, and Matt Duffie selected as injury cover over Savea's 2017 end-of-season tour squad over Savea. Savea signed up for the Barbarians Club against his former All Blacks teammates on November 5, 2017. Savea played the full 80 minutes for the Barbarians but failed to make an impact, with Crusaders winger and Barbarians colleague George Bridge overshadowing Savea and scoring two tries as the Barbarians lost 22-31 to the All Blacks, featuring Savea's younger brother Ardie Savea.

Julian Savea was named the 2010 IRB Junior Player of the Year. He was the star of the IRB World U20 tournament, scoring eight tries in three games; he scored four tries in one match against Samoa; two each against Wales and South Africa; and two goals against Wales and South Africa. In the 2010 World U20 tournament, Savea appeared on the right wing for New Zealand.

Savea made her debut with the New Zealand Sevens squad at the 2009 Dubai Sevens and competed in the Sevens tournaments in Hong Kong, Adelaide, London, and Scotland.

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