There are bigger, more physically-gifted Hurricanes than Ardie Savea.
But few boast the competitiveness and work ethic that make the openside flanker one of the team's top performers week after week. If everyone drove themselves as hard as he does, the Hurricanes would hardly lose a match.
That was graphically illustrated by the try Savea scored during the first half of the Hurricanes' 42-20 win over the Southern Kings at Westpac Stadium on Friday night. The 22-year-old shrugged off three tacklers during a bullocking 30-metre run to the tryline that was typical of the way he plays his rugby.
"I was just doing my job, running the support line and I got the last pass [from Dane Coles] and just pinned my ears back and ran for the tryline and luckily I got the try," Savea said.
A couple of the Kings made decent contact with Savea and he would have been forgiven for hitting the deck and recycling the ball. Only Savea's not the sort to submit in any tackle, so he kept the legs pumping and wriggled his way free.
"Nah, for me, if I'm going to go to the ground, they're going to have to do a lot of work [to get me down]. No, I don't like giving up in contact and that's just how I've always done it since I was a kid."
From Ngani Laumape in midfield, to forwards such as Blade Thomson and Vaea Fifita, the Hurricanes boast plenty of blokes who can bust a tackle. The fact Savea has to work harder that others for his breaks only makes them more impressive.
"I'm just fortunate that I'm out on the edge and I get more space because of the way we play," he said.
When he wasn't scoring against the Kings, Savea was setting them up - for Ngani Laumape - and saving them too. The final 22-point margin flattered the Hurricanes, who were under the pump at 19-17 when Savea chased hard and broke up a Kings attack that seemed certain to yield a five-pointer.
"I'm just trying to take it week by week and put in good performances and be consistent. I feel like I'm doing that but there's always room for improvement," said Savea.
His contributions have now helped yield three successive wins for the Hurricanes, as they head into this week's bye. The squad are off until Wednesday, when they'll resume training for a couple of days before disbanding for the weekend.
Then it's back to work, with the Jaguares next up at Westpac Stadium on April 9. Savea said the break would do the Hurricanes good after making hard work of beating the Kings.
"We felt like we were in control but it didn't show on the scoreboard. It was good for the boys to run away with it in those last couple of minutes, but against better teams we won't get away with it," he said.
Victor Vito, Brad Shields, Reggie Goodes and Julian Savea should be back in the selection mix for the Jaguares game, while James Marshall is expected to quickly recover from the head knock which sidelined him for the second half of the Kings match.