Julian Savea

Early career

Savea attended Rongotai College in Wellington, New Zealand. In 2008, Savea made the New Zealand secondary schools team and the Hurricanes academy squad. In 2009, Savea debuted for the New Zealand sevens at the 2009 Adelaide Sevens. In 2010, Savea was selected for the New Zealand U-20 team to play at the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina. He scored 8 tries in the tournament which New Zealand won and was named IRB Junior Player of the year. Savea was rewarded for his good form by being picked in the 2010 Wellington Lions squad to play in the 2010 ITM Cup. In 2010 Savea was touted as 'the next Jonah Lomu'.

Hurricanes

In 2012, Savea played in his second season for the Hurricanes. While he had a quiet 2011 season, his 2012 form earned him a callup into the All Blacks for the three-test series with Ireland.

Savea had a poor season in 2016 and was benched for the Hurricanes' last 3 matches of the season in the knockout rounds, with Jason Woodward, former All Black Cory Jane and Justin Marshall the team's preferred back three players by the end of the season. Savea was also benched for the semi-final against the Lions in Johannesburg the following year, after Vince Aso returned from injury. Savea had been quiet all season, with Wes Goosen replacing him as the starting left wing for the loss to the Lions.

Savea has scored 44 tries for the Hurricanes in his career and has the second-to-most tries of any player currently active in the competition, behind Waratahs fullback Israel Folau who has scored 45 tries. Savea's Hurricanes team mate TJ Perenara trails hum with 43 tries in the competition.

Wellington Lions

He marked his first-class debut in July 2010 with a length of the field runaway try that clinched an ITM Cup pre-season win for the Wellington Lions over Canterbury. He started on the right wing in 12 of 14 ITM Cup games, scoring a further eight tries including a try on championship debut against Tasman and two more the following week against Otago.

All Blacks

Savea was named in the 2012 All Black squad, his first season of international rugby.

On 9 June 2012, Savea scored three tries on his debut for the All Blacks against Ireland in the first test at Eden Park. He is the first All Black to score three tries against Ireland in a test match, and just the fourth to score three tries on his All Black test debut. Since his debut, Savea has been one of the most prolific tryscorers in international rugby.

Savea became a regular starter for the All Blacks across his first few years. In 2014, Savea was nominated for World Rugby's Player of the Year award, which was ultimately won by teammate Brodie Retallick.

Savea was named in the 31-man All Black squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where he scored 8 tries across the tournament having played in many games throughout the tournament. Savea's 8 tries saw him equal the record for most tries in a single tournament, previously achieved by the late former All Black Jonah Lomuand South Africa's Bryan Habana. Two of these games played saw Savea score hat-tricks, including a quarter-final game against France. The hat-trick Savea scored against France saw him being compared to Lomu. Savea was again nominated for World Rugby's "Player of The Year" award which was won by teammate Dan Carter, and was also the winner of "Try of The Year" for one of his tries against France in the World Cup.

Despite continuing to climb up in the record books through 2016, Savea did so seriously out of form. When Waisake Naholo was injury-free he would be selected over Savea as the starting left wing, with Israel Dagg on the right wing. Savea continued to start internationally due to injuries to Naholo and Nehe Milner-Skudder, the latter of whom did not play internationally all year due to a shoulder reconstruction surgery.

Savea became the fifth New Zealander to score 40 tries in international rugby in 2016, where he scored his 40th against Australia in Sydney. Savea became the fastest to do so, as this was his 44th match. Savea overtook former All Black wing Joe Rokocoko's record of 40 tries from 46 tests.

On the 16th of June 2017, Savea charged his way over the chalk against Samoa marking his 46th test try. Now just three behind from Doug Howletts' mark of 49 test tries that has been untouchable since his retirement in 2007.

Savea lost his starting spot in the All Blacks to rookie Blues wing Rieko Ioane for the first two tests against the British and Irish Lions in 2017, but started in the third test following injury to Waisake Naholo and Ioane having illness. Savea was unexpectedly dropped from the All Blacks squad for the 2017 Rugby Championship when the team for that was named on his 27th birthday, with Ioane, Naholo and Hurricanes team-mate Nehe Milner-Skudder recovering from injury and illness. Savea is scheduled to play for the Wellington Lions in the Mitre 10 Cup for 2017 following his exclusion from the All Blacks.

New Zealand U20

Julian Savea was named the 2010 IRB Junior Player of the Year. He was the star of the IRB World U20 tournament, scoring eight tries in three games; he scored four tries in one match against Samoa, and two each against Wales and South Africa. Savea featured on the right wing for New Zealand in the 2010 World U20 tournament.

New Zealand Sevens

Savea debuted for the New Zealand Sevens team at the 2009 Dubai Sevens and went on to play in the Sevens tournaments at Hong Kong, Adelaide, London and Scotland.

Personal life

Savea is of Samoan descent. His younger brother Ardie is also a Hurricanes and All Blacks player.

In April 2013 Savea was charged over a domestic violence incident involving his partner. The charges were later withdrawn after Savea completed police diversion. Savea had previously appeared on posters for an anti-domestic violence campaign, 'It's Not OK'.

In December 2015, Savea married his girlfriend of 3 years, Fatima. The couple announced via Instagram that they are expecting their first child in December 2017.