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Two former Highlanders may be the Chiefs' secret weapons
While it’s certainly not unusual to see players move between Super Rugby franchises from season to season, it’s not often that you see someone squaring off against their old team in their first game in action for their new side.
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That will be the exact situation on Saturday afternoon, however, when Josh Ioane lines up in the No 10 jersey for the Chiefs when they take on the Highlanders in Queenstown.
After clocking up four seasons and 43 caps for the southerners, Ioane has headed north for a change of scenery. After some strong pre-season form against Moana Pasifika and the Blues, Ioane has now been tasked with guiding his new team around the park in their season-opener. To add even more intrigue to the match, he’ll be doing it in Highlanders country too, after the six NZ-based teams shifted south for the opening rounds of the competition.
At much the same time last year, Ioane was on hand to score 14 points for the Highlanders when they travelled up to Waikato Stadium at nabbed a come-from-behind 39-23 victory over the Chiefs.
Curiously, that match – which the Chiefs led 20-3 at one stage shortly before halftime – was Bryn Gatland’s first game in Chiefs colours after representing the Highlanders the season before. In 2020, Gatland had been the one to kick a last-minute drop goal at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin to start the Chiefs’ winless Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign.
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Gatland will be perched on the bench this weekend, sitting behind Ioane, and will no doubt also enter the fray at some stage.
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With two recent Highlanders in their squads, you have to wonder whether the Chiefs might have the early-season advantage over their opposites, given the intel that the likes of Ioane and Gatland can bring to the mix.
Assistant coach David Hill suggested after the team were named for the opening match of their campaign that while Ioane, in particular, may have confirmed a few things here and there, he certainly wasn’t being leaned on as the keeper of all Highlanders knowledge.
“[We had] a couple of conversations but it’s probably more confirming what we’re thinking or our ideas and it’s it a bit of a nod or a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’,” Hill said on Thursday. “Bryn’s been involved with the Highlanders as well before,” he added.
“This time of year, there’s a lot of cross-over of players from other provinces or other franchises so the answer is yes [Ioane has provided some insight], but not much to be fair, and we’ll just crack on.”
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Early season clashes between the Chiefs and Highlanders have often been closely-fought, high-scoring affairs. While this Saturday’s match won’t be played under the roof at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, a rainy morning is supposed to give way to clear skies ahead of the afternoon kick-off.
Just once before have the two sides squared off in Queenstown during a regular season match, with the Chiefs winning that encounter 38-34 in 2007, with Sitiveni Sivivatu and Lelia Masaga both nabbing doubles for the visitors.
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
29 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
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