Analysis: How Rieko Ioane's lethal speed ripped apart Wales
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.
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.
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
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
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments