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‘Did Conrad really score that many’: Rieko Ioane dismisses All Blacks drought

Rieko Ioane (L) and Ardie Savea of New Zealand leave the field after warming up during The Rugby Championship match between New Zealand All Blacks and Argentina at Eden Park on August 17, 2024 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

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.”

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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.

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins
0
Draws
0
Wins
5
Average Points scored
16
33
First try wins
60%
Home team wins
60%

“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)

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Comments

24 Comments
M
MO 193 days ago

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

B
Bull Shark 195 days ago

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.

S
SM 195 days ago

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.

L
Lele005 195 days ago

Obviously not his fans. He's not wounded?

L
LB 196 days ago

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

A
Andrew Nichols 197 days ago

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.

J
JD Kiwi 195 days ago

James Parsons' explanation of why you can't play Ardie at 7 (from the Aotearoa pod this week) should be compulsory viewing.

L
Lele005 195 days ago

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

J
JW 197 days ago

“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.”

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.

T
TO 197 days ago

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.

J
JW 197 days ago

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.

N
Nickers 197 days ago

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.

J
JW 197 days ago

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!

l
liam 197 days ago

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.

S
SS 196 days ago

Yep, I'm thinking Ioane shouldn't be comparing himself to one of the greatest centres ever

J
JW 197 days ago

He's not listening bro, cool story though.

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“He won a ECL and a domestic treble at the beginning of his career.”

He won 2 ECLs at the beginning of his career (2009, 2011). Since then he’s won 1 in 15 years.


“He then won 3 leagues on the bounce later in his career”

He won 3 leagues on the bounce at the start of his career too - (2009, 2010, 2011).


If we’re judging him by champions league wins, he peaked in his late 30s, early 40s. If we’re judging him by domestic titles he’s stayed pretty consistent over his career. If we’re judging him by overall win rate he peaked at Bayern, and was better at Barcelona than at City. So no, he hasn’t gotten better by every measure.


“You mentioned coaches were older around the mid-2010’s compared to the mid-2000’s. Robson was well above the average age you’ve given for those periods even in the 90’s when in his pomp.”

Robson was 63-64 when he was at Barcelona, so he wasn’t very old. But yeah, he was slightly above the average age of 60 I gave for the top 4 premier league coaches in 2015, and quite a bit above the averages for 2005 and 2025.


“Also, comparing coaches - and their experiences, achievements - at different ages is unstable. It’s not a valid way to compare and tends to torpedo your own logic when you do compare them on equal terms. I can see why you don’t like doing it.”

Well my logic certainly hasn’t been torpedoed. Currently the most successful premier league coaches right now are younger than they were ten years ago. You can throw all the nuance at it that you want, but that fact won’t change. It’s not even clear what comparing managers “on equal terms” would even mean, or why it would be relevant to anything I’ve said.


“You still haven’t answered why Kiss could be a risker appointment?”

Because I’ve been talking to you about football managers. If you want to change the subject then great - I care a lot more about rugby than I do football.

But wrt Kiss, I don’t agree that 25 years experience is actually that useful, given what a different sport rugby was 25 years ago. Obviously in theory more experience can never be a bad thing, but I think 10 years of coaching experience is actually more than enough these days. Erasmus had been a coach for 13 years when he got the SA top job. Andy Farrell had been a coach for 9 when he got the Ireland job. I don’t think anyone would say that either of them were lacking in experience.


Now - what about coaches who do have 25+ years experience? The clearest example of that would be Eddie Jones, who started coaching 31 years ago. He did pretty well everywhere he worked until around 2021 (when he was 61), when results with England hit a sharp decline. He similarly oversaw a terrible run with Australia, and currently isn’t doing a great job with Japan.

Another example is Warren Gatland, who also started coaching full-time 31 years ago, after 5 years as a player-coach. Gatland did pretty well everywhere he went until 2020 (when he was 56), when he did a relatively poor job with the Chiefs, before doing a pretty poor job with the Lions, and then overseeing a genuine disaster with Wales. There are very few other examples, as most coaches retire or step back into lesser roles when they enter their 60s. Mick Byrne actually has 34 years experience in coaching (but only 23 years coaching in rugby) and at 66 he’s the oldest coach of a top 10 side, and he’s actually doing really well. He goes to show that you can continue to be a good coach well into your 60s, but he seems like an outlier.


So the point is - right now, Les Kiss looks like a pretty reliable option, but 5 years ago so did Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland before they went on to prove that coaches often decline as they get older. If Australia want Kiss as a short term appointment to take over after Schmidt leaves in the summer, I don’t think that would be a terrible idea - but NB wanted Kiss as a long term appointment starting in 2027! That’s a massive risk, given the chance that his aptitude will begin to decline.


Its kind of analagous to how players decline. We know (for example) that a fly-half can still be world class at 38, but we also know that most fly-halves peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so it is generally considered a risk to build your game plan around someone much older than that.

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AlanCriner 1 hour ago
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AlanCriner 1 hour ago
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My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

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NB 3 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

https://www.london.edu/think/how-claudio-ranieri-transformed-leicester-city


He jts knew how to use that deep well of knowledge accumulate over many years of management. A true Moneyball story!

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