Ardie Savea’s unorthodox pre-Test message to Du'Plessis Kirifi

Not everything goes to plan in the All Blacks environment, and that was certainly the case on Saturday evening when Chiefs loose forward Luke Jacobson pulled out of the Test match in the warmup.

Jacobson picked up a quad injury during a maul in the warmup, which meant Robertson needed to reshuffle his back row in Hamilton.

Christian Lio-Willie joined the 23-man squad on the bench, while All Blacks captain Ardie Savea moved to No.8 and Du’Plessis Kirifi was promoted to the starting openside flanker role.

Speaking to the media post-match in Hamilton, Kirifi opened up and explained what Savea said to him, or lack thereof, as they found out about the reshuffle.

“Not a lot, I’m not gonna lie, he [Savea] looked at me and just said, that’s us, we don’t need to say too much,” Kirifi said.

When asked about how much of a challenge it was for Kirifi to find out so close to kickoff, he admits that that’s what they prepare for during the week.

“Nah, no challenge, we’re professionals, we all prepare to play as you saw in the first Test, Damian McKenzie going on one minute into the game.

“So you’re always prepared for that situation, whether or not what happens is another question.”

Kirifi tells the media that if you’re not prepared, that’s when you may get caught out in situations like last night.

“It can be physically challenging, but you’re still getting the work done throughout the week. Mentally, I think if you let yourself fall into the trap of only going to come on for 10 or 20 minutes, then when something like tonight happens, you’re caught out.

“So all of us prepare as if we’re going to play a full 80, and as we’ve seen throughout the week, we’ve had multiple injuries in our back line.”

Kirifi describes his feelings for teammate Luke Jacobson, who had just worked his way back into the All Blacks environment after a head knock kept him out of the first two Tests.

“Obviously gutted for Luke, you know he’s worked extremely hard to get back into the environment, into the starting eight jersey, but yeah, just like anyone else, always ready to step up if need be.”

Surprisingly, Kirifi says he hasn’t learned much about Test rugby after playing his first three Test matches, as he always knew it would be a step up.

“I’m not gonna lie, not a lot, like you always know it’s a step up, and you try to prepare as best as possible and whether or not you’re prepared is another question.

“But yeah, I’ve always been aware of the intensity, the physicality and the level up that it is and my job and the challenges for me to just continue to keep growing and trying to reach that intensity level accurately.”