Both Sir John Kirwan and Victor Matfield have backed Dave Rennie's decision to give Ardie Savea a delayed arrival into South Africa ahead of the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series, though Kirwan isn't without reservations. Savea will miss the tour openers against the Stormers and Sharks and is unlikely to feature against the Bulls at Loftus, arriving only ten days before the first Test. Rennie's rationale is straightforward — Savea has been playing and training continuously since January last year across Moana Pasifika, All Blacks duty, and a Japan stint — but Kirwan flags a psychological dimension too, noting Savea took unfair heat over Robertson's exit. His concern is structural: he draws a direct line to Woodward's 2005 Lions tour, where splitting the squad into Test and midweek groups proved disastrous, and wonders whether modern touring logistics risk a similar fragmentation. Matfield is less troubled, framing it as smart individualised player management — the norm in the modern game — and pointing out that leadership is now a group function anyway, with Codie Taylor stepping in as touring captain.