Kobe Steelers has announced that World Player of The Year Ardie Savea will leave the club at the end of the season.
The 30-year-old’s Japan move was announced back in 2022 and Japan's top-flight regular season concludes next week with fifth-placed Kobe having missed the top-four play-off cut.
Savea, 30, who has 24 tries in 81 caps for the All Blacks, has been an ever-present for the Japanese side featuring in all 14 of their games and contributing seven tries including four against Beauden Barrett’s Toyota Verblitz.
The long-time Hurricanes number eight ranks fifth in division one for ball carries (163), fifth for metres gained (904), third for players beaten (62) and fifth for offloads (22) as well as fifth for most successful tackles (169).
While the plan was always to leave Japan at the end of the season to return to his homeland to be available for All Blacks selection this summer, Savea has been vocal about his country’s strict eligibility regulations.
"The country that's proven that it works, that it helps, is South Africa,” Savea told New Zealand media earlier this month.
“The majority of their team's playing (overseas) and they come together and win the World Cup.
"I don't think it's going to change drastically but I just think that something needs to evolve and grow."
Savea, who will return to Super Rugby duty for the Hurricanes in 2025, added: "I'm playing against a different variety of players, different styles, which has been refreshing and awesome. Where in New Zealand, you're just playing against the New Zealand teams and Aussie teams."
Kobe Steelers announced on Friday that they will hold an end-of-season press conference in two weeks’ time which will feature Dave Rennie, Savea and co-club captain Brodie Retallick.
Rennie’s side, whose loss to defending champions Kubota last week ended their play-off bid, host Charles Piutau’s Shizuoka Blue Revs on Saturday before finishing their campaign away at relegation-threatened Mie Honda Heat on 4 May.
The new All Blacks era under new head coach Scott Robertson starts with a home game against England at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on 6 July as part of a 14-Test season for the 2023 World Cup runners-up.
Stay tuned to RugbyJP.com for coverage of Savea’s last press conference in Japan. Photo courtesy of Kobe Steelers
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