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'It is a completely different beast': All Blacks preparing for a different style to Ireland says Rieko Ioane

(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

The All Blacks have arrived in South Africa in preparation for their first game there in four years but despite the long break, Rieko Ioane is under no illusions about what they will meet in Mbombela.

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Ioane’s first trip to South Africa came in his debut test season in 2017 where he scored a long-range intercept try in the 25-24 win at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.

Few would have predicted the close encounter after the first meeting between the sides in Albany where the All Blacks recorded a record 57-0 result, but playing South Africa at home is a ‘different beast’.

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“It’s a game that prior to the four-year absence everyone has looked forward to. We as players look forward to coming here,” Ioane said of this week’s match.

“To have that break and not have that annual game over here, it builds the hype, especially on the outside.”

On his second trip over during the 2018 Rugby Championship, Ioane scored another try in a miraculous comeback that saw the All Blacks clinch a 32-30 victory in Pretoria.

“Some of the toughest games I’ve had in the black jersey have been over here, you think back to the last time we were here [in 2018], it went beyond the 80 minutes,” he said.

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“We really had to dig deep. The hardest games in the toughest places to play are the ones that you want to be a part of.”

After an extended absence there are many young All Blacks who do not have any experience playing the Springboks at home, whilst the absence of their teams in Super Rugby also means that this is the first trip for many to South Africa.

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Ioane said that the team specifically gathered the first-timers for a meeting to help prepare them for what to expect when they run out on the field at Mbombela Stadium, the home of South Africa’s 2010 Football World Cup.

“We had a meeting with all the boys that haven’t been here, as you said, because we don’t have them [South African teams] in Super Rugby,” he said.

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“There is quite a few boys that haven’t been here and haven’t experienced the crowds, or South Africa at home.

“It’s definitely going to be a new experience for them but it’s going to be an awesome one.

“The first time I travelled here, I loved it.”

“The landscape here is very different to all the places we have been, Cape Town, Jo’burg, so again it is something new to us older boys.”

The All Blacks will have to adjust to altitude quickly but Ioane is hopeful that it won’t be the defining factor in the result this weekend.

“It’s something that we have to build over the course of the week. There isn’t any magic secret or recipe to solving that,” he said.

“There are going to be boys that struggle to sleep or whatever, but it’s about getting on once we are between those white lines.

“It’s about being the best team we can. The altitude does play a factor but it shouldn’t be too big a factor.”

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After losing four of their last five test matches, Ioane says the All Blacks are determined to get better in all areas and is hoping the backs will fire.

“There is plenty of stuff to work on, we as backs need to fire as well,” he said.

“We are coming up against a world class outfit, especially in their backs so we need to get better all over the park, whether on attack or D.

“It is a completely different beast that we are facing this week.”

Ioane has scored five tries in his seven tests against Springboks, including two from his two tests in South Africa but hasn’t crossed the chalk yet so far in 2022 playing in the midfield against Ireland.

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Comments

3 Comments
C
CT 841 days ago

Always the two teams to watch gut wrenching stuff

S
Silk 842 days ago

The excitement over here is incredible. It feels like WC Final week in South Africa. Looking forward to a brutal and tough test on Saturday. It will be close. I don't fall for the talk of an AB side that is weak. They will be up for it. Boks will have to be at their best. Good luck to the Boks and the Old Foe.

A
Andrew 842 days ago

Yep. Biggerthan the Irish and just as happy to pepper you with the same kicks, maul over for easy tries and tackle your popgun attack. So what are you going to do?

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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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