Picture: GRANT DOWN / AFP
All Blacks captain Ardie Savea has urged his team to embrace rather than fear the Ellis Park cauldron when New Zealand confront the Springboks in Saturday’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry opener.
For Savea, there is nowhere better to play rugby than Johannesburg’s famous stadium, where the prospect of running out against the Springbok “warriors” still sends his heart racing.
“It’s the best place you want to play as a footy player. You run out, you see the Springbok warriors coming out, the crowd … You always get goosebumps when you come play here,” Savea said on Friday.
“You can let it drown you out and end up in the headlights, or you can love those moments. As All Blacks, we love those moments.”
