New Zealand’s rising star Wallace Sititi insisted there’s “only one Ardie Savea” after impressing alongside his fellow back-row forward in the All Blacks’ thrilling 24-22 win over England.
Sititi was switched to blindside flanker after appearing at No. 8 in the previous week’s 64-19 rout of Japan as Savea, the reigning World Rugby player of the year, returned for Saturday’s match at Twickenham.
Before the England game, Savea said of the 22-year-old Sititi: “With the way he’s playing, he reminds me a bit of myself. He can play eight, seven (openside flanker) or six (blindside flanker).
“He’s quality. He can play eight and be awesome, he can play six and be awesome, even at seven.”
Sititi, the son of former Samoa captain Semo, only made his Test debut this year and was winning just his seventh cap on Saturday.
He backed up Savea’s endorsement with a man-of-the-match display against England, although Sititi said afterwards: “There’s only going to be one Ardie. No one can be who he is or do what he does.
“He’s a beast… a good man and a good brother. So it means a lot to me that he said that. He’s been a mentor for me, taken me under his wing and guided me through this journey and I’m truly grateful for what he’s done for me.”
As well as threatening England with his powerful ball-carrying, Sititi produced a moment of sublime skill when his flip pass out of the tackle sent in Mark Tele’a for the first of the All Blacks’ three tries.
“I’d say it was instinctive,” said Sititi when asked if the score was the result of a pre-planned move.
“But it was a good finish from Mark. He deserves the credit.”
New Zealand were eight points down heading into the closing stages before wing Telea’s second try of the match, four minutes from time, levelled the scores.
Even then, it needed replacement fly-half Damian McKenzie’s superb touchline conversion to edge the All Blacks ahead.
England might still have won had George Ford, their substitute stand-off, not struck the post with a penalty of his own and then missed a drop-goal with the last play of the game.
“It was definitely one of the most dramatic finishes in my career,” said Sititi.
“It was amazing, how passionate the fans were and singing those songs,” he said. “We could definitely hear it. We knew what we were coming into and it was amazing to experience that.”