Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Unstoppable: Savea clinches Super Rugby award early
Nick Mulvenney • May 19th, 2025 2:30 pm
Photo: AAP
Ardie Savea has been named the winner of the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year award with two rounds of the competition to spare after his extraordinary performance for Moana Pasifika at the weekend.
The All Blacks loose forward was a powerhouse on both sides of the ball as Moana beat the Blues for the first time on Saturday to move into the top six in the standings, good enough for a playoff spot.
Savea appropriately brought an end to what one TV commentator described as the best individual performance in 30 years of Super Rugby with a turnover under his own posts to seal the 27-21 victory.
Savea received maximum points for his performance from his peers and coaches to take an unassailable 11-point lead in Player of the Year standings over Tom Hooper of the ACT Brumbies.
Ardie Savea is proving why Razor needs to play him at No. 7 for the All Blacks | | The Bunnings Trade Rugby Run
"It just astounds me, sometimes I don't know if anyone can get any better, but he keeps doing it," Moana coach and All Blacks great Tana Umaga said after Savea's monumental effort on Saturday.
"It's just amazing what he puts himself through, how he prepares and how much it means to him. To learn the skills of someone who's playing the best rugby that anyone's ever seen ... is the best way for our boys to learn."
Savea moved to Moana at the end of last year on a mission to help develop a team which was set up to advance the careers of players from the Pacific islands and Pasifika diaspora but had struggled in its first three seasons.
"I don't know if you guys have been in that position when you wholeheartedly believe in something, you've given your all, that's me right now," Savea, who won the World Player of the Year award in 2023, said on Saturday.
"For me, it's more than a game and when it's more than a game to me, I'll run through brick walls for them. Every week, that's my mindset for this team."
