Ardie Savea met his wife at the cinema aged 16 – but was too shy to ask for her number

Savea has been with wife Saskia Savea since they were teenagers, with their relationship beginning long before the back-rower became one of the biggest names in the sport.

The couple knew each other through school and friends, but one particularly important encounter came at Reading Cinemas on Courtenay Place in Wellington, when Ardie was 16 and Saskia was just 15.

Speaking to Woman's Day via Now to Love, Savea recalled spotting Saskia at the cinema and wanting her number.

“We were at Reading Cinemas in Courtenay Place and I saw this beautiful blonde girl and asked for her number,” he recalled.

Saskia quickly corrected him, revealing that the future All Black had actually been too shy to do it himself.

“No, you got your cousin to ask for you!” she said.

The pair initially became friends before starting to spend more time together around a year later.

During a walk shortly before Christmas, Savea finally made his move, rather directly asking Saskia: “We go out, OK?”

It proved to be the start of a relationship that has lasted throughout virtually the entirety of Savea's remarkable rugby career.

As Savea progressed from promising Wellington youngster to Hurricanes star and eventually an All Blacks great, Saskia remained alongside him.

After welcoming their first child, Kobe, Savea proposed in December 2017, having purchased a pear-shaped diamond while in South Africa.

The couple then tied the knot in Fiji in December 2018, with friends and family joining them at the Sheraton Resort in Denarau.

According to the New Zealand Herald's report on their wedding, their young daughter Kobe was among those watching as the childhood sweethearts finally married.

Speaking about their relationship around the wedding, Saskia said it had been “a long time coming” after the pair had spent almost a decade together.

The couple have since built a family together, welcoming three children – Kobe, Keeon and Kove.

Saskia has also played a major role in Savea's life away from rugby.

She studied Commerce and has worked alongside her husband on his business interests, including his clothing brand, with Now to Love's wedding feature describing Saskia as handling the business side while Ardie focused on fashion.

From teenagers in Wellington to marriage, three children and Savea becoming one of the most recognisable rugby players in the world, they have now spent well over a decade together.

And one of the earliest chapters of their story involved a 16-year-old Ardie being too shy to ask Saskia for her number himself.