Au Revoir, Aotearoa! - All Back Julian's French Connection

He’s packing up his girls for a grand adventure.

- Kelly Bertrand

Standing on the kitchen bench, her little fists in the air and her smile wide, eight-month-old Jude Savea is shrieking with happiness as hip-hop blasts from a speaker.

But the grin on her face is nothing compared to that of her dad, rugby hard man Julian, who’s holding her as she bobs up and down to the music.

“She definitely likes music and dancing – she’s like me!” he says over the top of Jude’s excited squeals.

“He thinks he can sing as well,” chimes in wife Fatima, who’s rushed over to try to put a pair of silver shoes on her daughter’s feet in preparation for our camera.

While Julian has had a rugby career few could dream of, becoming one of the All Blacks’ highest try scorers and often being compared to the late great Jonah Lomu, it’s his family, he says, that’s his greatest achievement. “Being a dad tops everything,” Julian, 28, says, hugging Jude tight.

“And Jude’s a daddy’s girl,” adds Fatima, 23, rolling her eyes. “It’s not fair. I do everything for her and the first word of out her mouth is ‘Dada’. Typical!”

It’s because of his desire to do right by his family that the former Hurricane made his biggest decision ever – to start again in France.