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Analysis: How Rieko Ioane's lethal speed ripped apart Wales
By Ben Smith
Rieko Ioane saved his best performance of the year until last.
The World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year starred with a man-of-the-match performance in the All Blacks‘ 33-18 victory over Wales, with two tries, one try assist and four line breaks.
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Of Ioane’s 10 test match tries this year, half have come from opposition mistakes and 80 per cent have come off just one phase. The 21-year-old is a strike weapon – with a knack of pouncing on a loose ball and knowing no one has the speed to catch him.
He often makes an impact against the run of play – striking in the moment of instability, which is what makes him so dangerous.
In the 61st minute of the Welsh test, Ioane picks off Dan Biggar for a morale-destroying intercept try which put the All Blacks ahead 26-10. The play was a heads-up read by Ioane, but on closer look, Ioane illustrates smart defensive awareness and teamwork with Anton Leinart-Brown.
Beauden Barrett (10) already has alignment with Dan Biggar (10) and outside reserve centre Anton Lienart-Brown (23) has no one to defend.
Leinart-Brown makes the decision to rush up on a ‘guns’ play – shooting outside-in to create pressure on Biggar. The Welshman will be forced to react in an instant and will only have Leinart-Brown in his peripheral vision.
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Ioane reads that Lienart-Brown is running a blitz and stays connected – he rushes up in unison to shut down space. Ioane has the option to time a big hit on the opposite winger, or run the same angle as Lienart-Brown and cut-off the passing lane. He goes for the latter.
Biggar has to pass almost instantly – he feels Lienart-Brown coming and tries to pivot and release without looking. Ioane is already banking on the pass and cashes in – jumping the pass to score untouched at the other end.
Lienart-Brown created the opportunity and Ioane capitalised, working in unison to make a play.
Ioane the Centre-piece
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Rieko Ioane has indicated his long-term goal is to grow into a test calibre centre, a position he often fills for the Blues in Super Rugby. The All Blacks are already finding ways for him to bust through the midfield, having Ioane sweep and pop-up as a midfield option as they did successfully against Wales.
The perfect example of this was the set-piece play used in the 73rd minute, which led to the game-sealing score by Ioane.
The All Blacks run a 9-10 wrap around with both midfielders as decoy screen runners.
TJ Perenara (21) wraps around Sopoaga (22) and becomes the back door option on the first screen behind Sonny Bill-Williams (12), while Ioane (11) sweeps and becomes the back door option on the second screen pass behind Lienart-Brown (23).
The Welsh backline set-piece defence had been out of sync at various points in the match, just as Lienart-Brown and Ioane rushed together to create the intercept, the Wales back line failed to work together numerous times which cost them.
Earlier in the match, Dan Biggar rushes out of the line and slides across to cover Williams. This leaves his inside defender, hooker Ken Owens, completely mismatched against Barrett – offering Barrett a running opportunity which he doesn’t take.
The midfielders also do not match the same line speed as Biggar, passively holding back which becomes the problem on the Ioane try below.
Here is the All Blacks set-piece defence in the exact same field position on the Ioane set-piece try where, unlike Wales, the outside defenders move up in sync.
Wales have reserve midfielder Jamie Roberts at 12, and their starting 12 Owen Williams defending at centre, who fails to stay aligned with his inside defenders.
Owen Williams’ lazy line speed is due in part to his anticipation of Sonny Bill Williams taking a crash ball. As Sonny Bill gets closer to the line, he pulls up expecting Roberts to make a tackle.
His decision to plant and switch off is the moment the All Blacks score. Owen Williams is circled is where he actually is, and superimposed is where he would be if he rushed up in line with Roberts – in a position to disrupt the play.
With Ioane coming around at full speed and Williams caught on the back of his heels, he has no chance of trying to catch him- in fact he fails to even get a finger on Ioane.
Rieko Ioane exposed the Welsh lack of application, landing two massive tries. It not only earned the All Blacks a win, but also showed why he was a very worthy selection of World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year.
Ioane the Ball Hawk
