'Likely to be the player of the decade': The dizzying hype Rieko Ioane got after his first test season in 2017
Rarely has a player burst onto the international scene in the fashion that 20-year-old Rieko Ioane did in 2017 for the All Blacks.
It seemed that he was destined to break all sorts of records after scoring 10 test tries in his first full season as an All Black before his 21st birthday. It was a year where Ioane swept all before him, starting with a sensational test match against the British & Irish Lions at Eden Park where he scored two tries.
Having abruptly replaced Julian Savea, the star of the 2015 Rugby World Cup and holder of 46 test tries himself, Ioane stunned the rugby world by burning past England fullback Elliot Daly with glorious ease to seal a 30-15 win over the Lions in the first test after a botched box kick by Liam Williams.
The Blues wing then continued to rack up try after try with four against the Wallabies and two more against Springboks. On the end of year tour, Ioane completed his whirlwind year with a double at Cardiff against Wales.
The hyperbole began to reach astronomic levels with Ioane’s clear potential for all to see. If he could continue this vein of form, he would end up as perhaps the All Blacks greatest ever finisher.
Former All Black Doug Howlett, scorer of 49 test tries and holder of New Zealand’s try-scoring record, went as far to say Ioane was the ‘perfect blend of Cullen, Lomu, and Umaga’, three of the most dangerous attacking players in modern rugby history.
“He has elements of all great All Black wingers,” Howlett said on BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly Podcast.
“He can move like Christian Cullen, he has the strength of a Jonah [Lomu], and he can pass and play the ball like a Tana Umaga.
Kiwi scribe Mark Reason also joined in the fervour, lavishing Ioane with unrestrained predictions of future greatness, adding that Ioane possessed a beauty that Lomu did not.
“Jonah Lomu was brutal. He destroyed what was in front of him. His legs moved like pistons. But Ioane flows over the ground like the most beautiful racehorse,” he wrote for Stuff.co.nz.
“Already it is one of the great sights of modern sport. Already Ioane is rugby’s player of the year, and for my money, he is likely to be the player of this decade.”
Reason took exception to World Rugby’s judges awarding Beauden Barrett his second consecutive Player of the Year award, claiming they ‘made fools of themselves’ for not giving it to Ioane.
“Yes, I know, the judges gave the player of the year award to Beauden Barrett and thereby made fools of themselves and World Rugby.”
Paul Williams of Rugby World magazine, writing after his double against Wales that “at just 20 years of age, it was the boy who was the man amongst boys.”
“Ioane won the 2017 Breakthrough Player of the Year and he should arguably have won the senior award too,” he wrote in agreeance with Reason.
Andy Bull of The Guardian surmised that Ioane could become more successful than any of the previous 46 All Blacks out of the Ponsonby Rugby Club, which included Inga Tuigamala, Joe Stanley and Carlos Spencer.
“The way Ioane is shaping up he could become more successful than any of them,” he wrote.
“Wingers tend to burn bright and fast, especially in New Zealand, where a lot have come and gone. The All Blacks have used 22 in the last decade alone, and 13 of them scored at least 10 tries for the team. But Ioane, only 20, looks as if he will be a fixture there for a long while yet.”
Yet despite the dizzying level of expectation thrust upon the young winger, none of it seemed illogical at the time.
The 2018 season was just as fruitful for Ioane as he went five straight tests with at least a brace, including a hat-trick against France in Dunedin where he spent the last half hour tormenting the visitors at outside centre.
He finished 2018 with 22 test tries in just 24 matches, on pace to shatter Doug Howlett’s try-scoring record for New Zealand and become the first All Black to score 50 of them.
It seemed as though Ioane would continue racking up tries and have a bountiful time in Japan aiding the All Blacks on the quest for a third straight World Cup in 2019 however Ioane would become the latest winger to ‘burn bright and fast’, as Andy Bull of The Guardian had predicted he would avoid becoming.
History will show Ioane as an afterthought for the All Blacks at the 2019 World Cup, after losing his spot in the starting team to George Bridge during The Rugby Championship. An off-night against South Africa saw Ioane shut down by Cheslin Kolbe in a 16-all draw, while Ioane was a casualty along with Ben Smith after a record loss in Perth to the Wallabies.
He managed a start in a pool game against Canada but missed the key games of the tournament before surfacing against Wales in the third fourth playoff.
2020 was a transition year for Ioane as he pushed for a place in the All Blacks midfield. Having received the green light to start at 13 in the opening test of the year, Ioane botched a sure try, knocking on the ball while putting it down and wasn’t given another chance in the 13 jersey.
His Blues teammate Caleb Clarke went on to flourish in the left wing position, becoming a burgeoning star in his own right with a destructive performance against the Wallabies at Eden Park, where Ioane had done the same to the Lions three years earlier.
As time goes by, 2017 looks more and more like a flash in the pan season in the rearview mirror. Ioane went from ‘undroppable’ to an afterthought in the space of 12 months, and his case for player of the decade is flimsy at best.
He doesn’t have a solid lock on any position in the All Blacks backline and perhaps in pursuing centre has foregone the chance to play more tests for the All Blacks in the long run.
However at just 23-years-old Ioane has what others didn’t when they fell out of favour with selectors – time on his side. He will turn 24-years-old in 2021 having already experienced the highs and lows of international rugby.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments