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All Black Rieko Ioane stirs Irish pot again with post-win jibe

Rieko Ioane leads the All Blacks' haka before Friday's clash with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. Picture: PA

Midfielder Rieko Ioane has thrown a not-so-subtle jab at former Ireland captain Johnny Sexton after the All Blacks’ 23-13 win in Dublin on Friday night. Ioane played the entire 80 minutes as the New Zealanders recorded their first win at the Aviva Stadium in eight years.

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Ioane and the All Blacks hadn’t played Ireland since last year’s thrilling quarter-final at Stade de France, which the New Zealanders won 28-24. That brought an end to Irish dreams of World Cup glory, and so too did the decorated rugby career of flyhalf Johnny Sexton.

That match was tense and nerve-wracking, and the drama didn’t stop at full-time as Sexton recently revealed. In his autobiography, the former Ireland skipper alleged Ioane had said, “Don’t miss your flight home tomorrow. Enjoy retirement, you c**t.”

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It was a war of words that made headlines worldwide. Ioane hit back shortly after by sharing a picture of the pair, with the All Black positioning a joker card emoji above his head, a house emoji below Sexton, and accompanying the post with Zombie by The Cranberries.

Irish rugby writer Gerry Thornley said on SENZ before this week’s Test that, “Ioane is going to be the pantomime villain to end all pantomime villains.” There was always going to be an extra sense of feeling about this Test which already had the makings of a blockbuster battle.

With the All Blacks knocking Ireland off the top of the world rankings with a 10-point win, Ioane was interviewed post-game where he said, “Feelings were hurt, stuff was said but I’m just here to play footy and win games.” But soon after, Ioane had the last word.

“Put that in the book,” Ioane wrote on Instagram, with the joker card used once again to accompany this caption. The first picture on the carousel is Ioane standing above the All Blacks as he leads the haka, with the Irish standing opposite as they accepted the challenge.

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All Blacks Ireland
All Blacks midfielder Rieko Ioane has called on Johnny Sexton to ‘put that in your book’ after the All Blacks’ 23-13 win over Ireland. Picture: @riekoioane_ on Instagram

That was the first time Ioane had led the All Blacks’ haka.

“I was obviously more nervous for the kaea role and leading that haka than I was about the game,” Ioane said on Sky Sport New Zealand’s post-match coverage.

“With such great leaders like TJ (Perenara), Codie (Taylor) to help me out, it came pretty comfortable and pretty easy tonight.

“… When it comes to game days, I don’t let the emotion dictate my week. I love the spectacle of rugby and what I can influence to create.

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“Feelings were hurt, stuff was said but I’m just here to play footy and win games.”

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Flyhalf Jack Crowley opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a penalty goal, but the visitors struck back through Damian McKenzie. The All Black knocked over three penalties from as many attempts, but then disaster struck as momentum swung in Ireland’s favour.

Jordie Barrett was sent to the sin bin in the 39th minute, and Ireland responded by scoring 10 unanswered points, including a try to Josh van der Flier early in the second term. The Irish looked good on attack soon after, but their efforts were in vain.

McKenzie was instead next on the board, with the first five-eighth converting another three penalties before Will Jordan crossed for a decisive try. New Zealand’s defensive wall stood tall as they came home with a well-earned win.

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45 Comments
D
DrinkAwayTheConcussion 8 days ago

Hence the ‘not weak in a physical sense’ bit.

R
RedWarrior 8 days ago

Sledging during a match is allowed. Abusing players after a final whistle is just being a fvcking scvmbag, confirmed when you don't apologize and do it again.

Youre arrogant and entitled. Different rules for New Zealand.


This macho hard man attitude of Kiwis is hilarious. I've got all sorts of threats from guys here who I know I would kick up and down the street if I met. Do you all think you are hard men because you have a successful rugby team. Get to fvck!!🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡


You might beat us in a rugby match. You wont beat us in a fight. SA discovered that in Durban after the cheap shot on Casey the week before.

D
DrinkAwayTheConcussion 8 days ago

The prevailing sentiment here is that if you’re going to dish it out then you gotta take it, and Rieko did it better than Johnny did.

Anyone moaning about sexton can harden up, wherever they’re from.

R
RedWarrior 8 days ago

World Rugby considers Rieko's actions re Irish crowd disrespectful and abuse. They consider Sextons actions re Peyper disrespectful and abuse. Literally the same misconduct rule.

You are calling most Kiwis weak in character and resolve as they count Sexton's actions as disrespect. You can't have it both ways. As I said. You Kiwis are entitled.

R
RedWarrior 12 days ago

Irish fans behaved brilliantly like Irish fans do. They gave Ioane a break. And then the scumb@g goes and insults on Instagram when he is safely aware from the Aviva. A true coward and scumb@g

H
Head high tackle 11 days ago

What insult? Ioane is extremely proud of being chosen to lead the Haka. If little crappy jonny had led a Haka it would be in his book but he didnt even lead a winning team at a WC. Sexton is the perfect example of an Irish boofhead.

J
Jen 11 days ago

The fans booed Ioane and yelled rubbish at the ABs while they were warming up and even yelled crap at John Kirwan who was presenting on the sideline. I don't GAF about that but you should include commentary on how 'they behaved brilliantly' in your next stand-up routine.

D
DrinkAwayTheConcussion 11 days ago

Well you’ll know better for next time, won’t you. Probably should have taught him a lesson when you had the chance.

L
Longshanks 11 days ago

How did they give him a break exactly? Pretty sure I heard plenty of jeers and boos directed his way. I guess he was too busy celebrating his win at the Aviva to post on Instrgram.

R
RW 12 days ago

Rugbypass headline writer trying the controversy angle. Cute

C
CM 12 days ago

Ioane should show some dignity and just drop it. He had the last word at the RWC, time to live up to one of rugby's key values - respect.

J
JWH 12 days ago

Now that he has gotten his last word re Sexton's book I think that'll be all now

K
KiwiSteve 12 days ago

Rugby needs characters Reiko. It just never needed Sexton.

M
Max Imus 11 days ago

This isn't character, it's shameful. Reiko is an average player in an average team. It was a fair result yesterday because Ireland had their worst game for about 8 years, but the lack of dignity from this clown is embarrassing. I'd be ashamed of him if he played for my club or country. But as Sexton said, the no d*ckheads policy which NZ used to have is clearly a thing of the past. It's easy to have that policy when they were world beaters, but they're pretty mediocre now and lucky to have caught both Ireland and England cold. Now would be the time to show character by keeping that policy, but clearly with the likes of this d*ckhead they have not kept it.

R
RedWarrior 12 days ago

Greatest Ireland player ever. Ioane shows no respect for beaten opponents. He is a coward. He is scvm.

B
B 12 days ago

What's happened to the the All Blacks not scoring in the last quarter, or Damian McKenzie is shite comments.

Continuity and consistency for a victory well deserved.

Go the All Blacks... Roosters are next on the menu... onwards and upwards...

H
Head high tackle 12 days ago

So where was the pot stir? I believe he spent 20 mins doing Selfies with the Irish fans.

R
RedWarrior 12 days ago

The Irish fans gave him a break. Then he acted like the coward he is by stirring it on instagram when he was safely away from the Aviva. He is scvm.

I
Icefarrow 12 days ago

Yeah, only pot being stirred was Sexton's.

J
JWH 12 days ago

Had an excellent game, anybody who says he didn't do anything doesn't know rugby.

R
RedWarrior 12 days ago

The Irish fans gave him a break and then he stirred it on Instagram when safely away from Aviva. Coward.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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