Just 24 hours after smashing each other in a Rugby World Cup final, Ardie Savea and Siya Kolisi have shed some light on their "special friendship" — and how it almost led to the Springboks captain joining the Hurricanes.
The two loose forwards were all suited and booted at this morning's World Rugby Awards in Paris a day after the dramatic final, which Kolisi's South Africa won 12-11, where Savea was named the men's 15s player of the year.
Kolisi told 1News the award was "overdue" for Savea.
The outstanding number 8 had plenty of praise for his team as he collected the big prize. (Source: 1News)
"He's my brother, I'm really proud of him," Kolisi said.
"He's been doing this year in and year out and I'm really proud of him. I thought a couple of years ago he was in contention to win it but he hasn't stopped, he's been working hard year in and year out.
"He knows how I feel about him. We don't hide it, there's no secret about it — when we play against each other, we want to smash each other."
Despite that fierce competitiveness, Kolisi clarified he didn't mean to make contact with Savea's head during yesterday's final — an action that saw him yellow-carded but controversially not upgraded to a red card despite similar circumstances ending Sam Cane's final.
"At the end of the day, we're all going through the same struggle. We want to provide for our families. We want to make our countries proud, our families proud, and sometimes he helps me when I'm going through troubles or I'm going through something difficult and he knows how to deal with something better than me," Kolisi continued.
At that point, the man himself joined Kolisi's interview with 1News Sport's Andrew Saville with a big grin and similar praise for his mate.
"It's actually such a special friendship — it's not common these days to have two players being pretty much family," Savea said.
"He's a special man. There's only one other captain who has gone back-to-back and won two world cups so he's a special man. To do that and unite a country, it's so special to see and just like Siya said, we love our people, we love our families and we love our communities and he embodies that.
"Everything he does is inspirational for everyone, including myself but when we play against each other... it's all on!"
Kolisi added their friendship was built on a solid foundation of respect.
"I can't turn up at 50 per cent because I know he will turn up at 100 per cent," the Boks captain said.
"And I think he knows when I turn up, he knows how much I respect him and it's the same for him."
In fact, Savea then revealed that their friendship runs so deep that at one point he tried to recruit Kolisi to his Super Rugby club, the Hurricanes, and almost succeeded.
"I was close," Kolisi admitted.
But it wasn't meant to be, much like the All Blacks' fairytale finish to their redemption arc at this year's World Cup — a run Kolisi could see forming well before Northern Hemisphere teams and commentators did.
"We always knew, people wrote them off and they just went under the radar and they did what they always do," he said.
"We back each other, because it's tough in the south."
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