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‘Did Conrad really score that many’: Rieko Ioane dismisses All Blacks drought
By Finn Morton
The life of an All Black is one that a lot of young kids in New Zealand strive for. Those men selected to play for the national team are fortunate enough to travel the world, they get paid to play the game they love, and they’re widely worshipped as sporting Gods.
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From the outside looking in, it doesn’t look all that bad. It’s no surprise the playing group loves going on tour as they genuinely seem to enjoy one another’s company, and it must be rewarding to have countless fans at places like Johannesburg Airport ask for a selfie.
But then there’s the other side of it.
If you look at any sports team that has a passionate fan base, there’s a sense of urgency surrounding the playing group’s ability to deliver on the field. Serie A side Cagliari walked over to fans and apologised as a collective – their mascot included – after a recent 4-nil loss to Napoli.
It’s similar with the All Blacks.
“There’s always expectation to win a Test match,” coach Scott Robertson told reporters on Thursday morning in Sydney. Fans in Aotearoa expect excellence and those within the All Blacks’ setup understand that all too well.
Take Rieko Ioane, who debuted at Test level on November 12, 2016, against Italy on the All Blacks’ end-of-season tour. Ioane has been a mainstay of the New Zealand side ever since, racking up almost 80 Test matches and scoring 36 international tries.
“With experience and years under your belt, that pressure and that outside noise dwindles down and I know I’m only focused on my team and the opinions of my close circles,” Ioane told RugbyPass before this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup opener.
“I feel as though you begin to, as well as cope better with outside pressure and everything going on, you only tend to focus really on mum and dad’s opinion… they’re the ones that get through, and obviously the opinion of my teammates and my coaches I hold dearly.
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“If it’s pressure from them I know it’s coming from a good place, but I’ve learned to block out as much as I can and just focus on being myself when I’m in here, and when I’m not a rugby player I like to detach myself a little bit.”
When Ioane first made the jump from a prodigal talent with the prestigious Auckland Grammar First XV to the All Blacks Sevens, it didn’t take long for the world to take notice. As a teenager, the Kiwi was picked to represent Team New Zealand at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Ioane went on to win All Blacks Sevens’ Player of the Year award.
In 2017, the rising star established himself as one of the world’s best wingers in 15s after taking out World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year honour and also receiving a nomination for World Rugby’s top gong: the 15s Player of the Year accolade.
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It’s incredible what Ioane achieved as an All Black at such a young age, and his development as an international player in the years since is a testament to both himself and the coaches around him. Seven years on, Ioane is New Zealand’s premier outside centre.
But, after the team’s two defeats to the world champion Springboks over in South Africa, some fans are calling for Ioane to shift back to the wing. Ioane has switched to the edge during Tests this year but moving him completely would be a significant call for the coaches to make.
Ioane has only scored one try since the start of last year’s Rugby World Cup, and that includes the Blues’ run to championship glory in Super Rugby Pacific. But away from that, the midfielder has come a long way as a distributor and defender – almost like Conrad Smith.
For context, Smith – who played more than 90 Test matches during the greatest era in All Blacks history – scored 26 tries during a legendary international career. As fans will remember, it was Smith’s rugby smarts and defensive prowess that saw him stand out.
But while there’s plenty of outside noise that comes with being an All Black, Ioane was unfazed by the idea that his try drought is a problem; instead, pinpointing what is working for him at outside centre.
“In terms of my case, I think they grew accustomed to all the tries and the highlights from the earlier years,” Ioane explained.
“But, for this team, did Conrad (Smith) really score that many tries? People weren’t out saying, ‘Why’s he not out scoring tries’ because he’s focusing his skills in other places. He was defending, being that distributor.
“It comes with it. I’ve evolved my game from just tries and I used to struggle on defence and I don’t now. It’s all part of developing my game and it’s far from the finished product but I know it’s trending in the right direction and I still know what I can do.
“My team and the coaches have all that faith in me.”
On Saturday afternoon at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, Ioane will once again combine with Jordie Barrett in the All Blacks’ midfield. This is a combination that goes back a couple of years now, and there’s no doubt the pair have shown plenty of promise as a duo.
Over in South Africa earlier in The Rugby Championship, Barrett played some of his best rugby in the All Blacks’ No. 12 jumper while Ioane served valiantly as a distributor outside him. The pair have plenty of growth in them but that’s all part of the game.
“Us two are far from the finished product,” he added.
“We’ve made leaps and bounds and we feel confident (with) each other’s game. We’re two big boys and we like to play that way, and obviously the results this year don’t show it but we’re just going to keep working hard at training.
“We know when we click and we do get it right, we’re one of the better midfielders.
“We still have plenty of faith and plenty of confidence in our game.”
Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)
Ioane could make an excellent centre, his speed and to be fair his defence is good and he runs good decoy lines.
His problem is a major handicap - he can’t pass!!!
if he would learn to distribute accurately and in timely fashion - when or more to the point “if” he passes too often they are wayward and never in the bread in
Sadly he tends to run into contact rather than pass. His decision making when passing is also problematic- his attempt to pass to Reece as an example was ill conceived.
Ioane’s distribution prob Klein is exacerbated by the fact that Barrett is also a poor distributor of the ball and he’s playing outside McKenzie who can’t command a back line
All I can say is that the current AB backline is the least intimidating AB backline I’ve ever seen. Good players. But nobody strikes fear anymore and certainly not as a unit.
Some fan's have always wounded why he's playing center because he sucks at center, put him on the wing or the bench. I expected change from Mr Robinson but we have more of the same.
Obviously not his fans. He's not wounded?
I hadn't appreciated how important Ioane was at centre until the loss in wellington against the pumas you definitely feel his absence in the midfield. Although Lenit-Brown still had a decent game, he doesn't run the same lines as Ioane or put the same defensive pressure on the midfield
Like Ardie is a world clas 7 playing out of position at 8,RI is a world class wing playing centre. Id kind of hoped Razor would have ended the nonsense.
James Parsons' explanation of why you can't play Ardie at 7 (from the Aotearoa pod this week) should be compulsory viewing.
Razor has learned there is no easy fix and the nonsense you speak of has to be decided by not only Razor but the 6 other coaches
POP THE BALL LIKE YOU DID IN 2021 RIEKO!
Love the way you defend too bro, how you really go for the tackle. Team needs more of it.
I believe Reiko is the best all round defender in the backline now. It's what makes it so hard to drop him. Still think ALB or Billy should be given a start to see how they gel with either Jordie or Reiko. No ones form lasts forever and there are injuries as well.
Mate, I've been looking at my ultimate backline recently. I've been saying I'm in for a new 2nd5 as Jordie just doesn't seem to be interested in it. He could be a physical enforcer there if he wanted to be, he's not much more than a bumper car there atm (I did like that he tried the SBW overhead offload last week however!). I now think it might be smarter to be in for a new center (and we possibly have one ready made in Proctor) and move Rieko into 2nd5.
I think he has a) the pop pass for a 12(skill took Jordie a while), b) they same hard and straight running, c) the defence, and d) the desire (he will actually get more physically stronger again for the position). Barrett is a great versatile player that does so much for the team especially at the back (and that could be his place if Jordan doesn't make it his own) but I just think he's the one not to reach taht next step in developement. For me, he is the perfect bench player as he is now, he could cover every backline position save 9 (and Dmac, Reece if playing, could even do it if you want to be able to go that crazy) and would offer superb flexibility till WR fix the bench laws.
Reiko's defence is extremely underestimated by most casual observers. Very strong 1 on 1 tackler, and one of the best scramble defenders in the world.
As weird as it sounds he is playing more of the Jessie Kriel role for the ABs than the Conrad Smith role. So I don't think it's the right comparison. Is that the best use of his talents? He looked so dangerous in even the smallest amount of space when he moved to the wing in the second test against SA. But he and JB have formed an extremely solid combination in the midfield which we have not had since 2015. It may not be spectacular but it's reliable and predictable which in this new team struggling to make things happen is very important for now.
Yeah were getting by thanks to Dmac at the moment. He's knew though, what if he gets found out and his passes can't find the man in space anymore? Those two might not quite do it then. Fully agree though, I will have to finish watching a replay as I can only remember ALB not passing to Rieko twice when he was in space and looking dangerous, and I'm sure you're not talking about incidences when he didn't get the ball!
While smith scored only 26 tries compared to ioane's 36, most of ioane's came when we was on the wing. Also I'm sure smith set more up and when he ran he didn't pretty much always just run it dead straight. He was also definitely better at disturbing and actually had a kicking game the proved handy when used.
Yep, I'm thinking Ioane shouldn't be comparing himself to one of the greatest centres ever
He's not listening bro, cool story though.