Why not selecting Akira Ioane is a missed opportunity for the All Blacks
We saw what happened the last time Akira Ioane was disappointed at yet another All Blacks snubbing.
After missing the All Blacks’ cut for their northern tour, despite looking a good thing to be on the plane, he just exploded last October and November, peeling off five dynamic displays for both Auckland and the Maori All Blacks. He was Auckland’s best player in its run to the title and then he was supersonic for the Maori on their tour of the Americas. I kid ye now, he set up no less than seven tries in the demolition of Chile. Granted, the opposition was hardly top-notch, but his dangerous attacking game was again on show for all to see.
Surely it just needs the right coaches to harness that at the higher level, doesn’t it?
What of his Super Rugby output? Well, he continues to be the ironman of the Blues, never getting injured, scoring two tries in his 16 starts, the only Blue other than Melani Nanai to start every game, and making 174 carries, the seventh best in the competition.
Ioane’s early form was strong but, in fairness, he fell away later in the season. He was not alone at the Blues in that regard. So we know Ioane is no Ardie Savea, making a massive impact with a high work-rate. We know he needs to stop drifting out of games, either having or reverting to the old 10-10, 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off. But his upside should be enough to work with, his speed off the base of the scrum, his strength in the mauls, his flypaper hands and aerial ability.
The Blues No 8 must have thought his luck had changed when he was called into the All Blacks training camps back in April. However, his form did not get better after that and he was a high profile omission when the All Blacks named 39 for the Rugby Championship. Ioane was not the only one who might have considered himself unlucky. Tyrel Lomax, too, missed out after a consistently strong season as the Highlanders bookend.
Ioane was also subjected to a withering assessment of his abilities from Steve Hansen, who called him a “tired athlete.” But then surely the Blues would have benched him if they felt he was not pulling his weight?
There are two other factors which make his omission puzzling. Not only have the selectors not settled on a back-up to skipper Kieran Read, who is about to leave New Zealand Rugby, but they have omitted Luke Whitelock, one of the few other specialist No 8s in the land who is challenging. Whitelock was a safe pair of hands, a good leader and solid defender, but has he been left out due to the fact he is heading to France? What of Gareth Evans, an All Black last season? Not picked.
They appear to be veering towards Ardie Savea as a No 8, when in fact he is the best No 7 in the land. Sam Cane is tough enough, but even he would admit Savea has been sensational in 2019. That leaves Shannon Frizell and rookie Luke Jacobson, both untried, as No 8 options.
Read, too, while solid enough in his 12 games for the Crusaders, has shown little of his once powerful attacking game in 2019. Injecting Ioane off the bench in a Rugby World Cup final, as Sir Bryan Williams recently suggested in Spasifik magazine, would offer serious X-factor and the ability to shred tiring defences.
Watch Ioane closely tomorrow for the Maori All Blacks in Suva where he will be marking Edinburgh’s Viliame Mata, a man described in the UK’s Rugby World magazine by Ben Ryan as the best No 8 in the world. Watch very closely.
It just seems like a lost opportunity to pull Ioane into the All Blacks environment, work him hard, bring the best out of him and let him flourish. He will be an All Blacks regular one day, but it will not be under this regime, and that is a crying shame.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
10 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate 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
5 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?
10 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.
10 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 comments