“What you see is what you get,” laughs Monty Ioane, flashing a set of brilliant white teeth that match his pristine Italy training tee. The top fails to conceal Ioane’s vast tapestry of body ink. In fact, it’s something of an oxymoron. Ioane is a colourful kaleidoscope in his faith, heritage and diverse interests. In his own words, he’s not here to blend in.
“I’ve always been a person who is not afraid to be different,” the winger smiles. “Even outside of rugby my life is quite different, or looks quite different, to the average player you’d see, going away and doing some fashion show, getting my full body tattooed from head to toe, wearing the out-there clothes.”
Let’s start with the clobber. Ioane’s modelling career began as a primary school child in his native Australia. It culminated in June with an invitation to don new Adidas gear designed by the Californian powerhouse Willy Chavarria at the Parish fashion week. Ioane followed NBA megastar James Harden onto the catwalk.
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“My dad still tells me this story and finds it funny,” he says. “I was six years old, we were on the beach and he had me on his shoulders. I used to have long hair and someone was doing a shoot with some kids and asked Dad if they could include his daughter. My dad said, ‘he’s a boy’. But they loved the look, it was different for them, so that’s where it started.
“I’ve always been a big fan of being in front of the camera, I’m not shy at all. I did a lot of modelling on stage until I was around 13 or 14, and I’ve been into some kind of acting or entertainment.
“I’d been asked to do the fashion week in Paris but it always clashed with playing. This year I was supposed to fly back to Australia but I lost my passport, so I got in touch with the guy who’d asked me to come and told him I was in Paris, and the fitting was the next day. I was the third model on; James Harden was first.
“In my period of playing rugby, it’s only started to become more adventurous the past couple of years. Ten years ago these things were always very low-key.”
I used to love Bruce Lee, I got his quote, ‘as you think so you shall be’ tattooed. I was big on how the mind works.
Then there’s the ink, woven across his skin like a map of his life. There are tributes to his two daughters and nods to his heroes. Some tattoos have deep person meaning; others are purely aesthetic.
“Tattoos are massive in my family. All my uncles and cousins have them and my dad has them. I never thought I would but I got my first one at 18 when my partner took me to Thailand for my birthday. I remember I only had one front half of my left arm done at first – not even a full sleeve – and my next tattoo was a full neck tattoo. That talks to my character. From that moment, there was no turning back.
“On my left leg I’ve got my daughters. I’ve got the time they were born on my right leg. I’ve got a portrait of a bunch of celebrities I grew up around. I used to love Bruce Lee, I got his quote, ‘as you think so you shall be’ tattooed. I was big on how the mind works. I’ve got Elvis – my dad was a big fan and I grew up listening to his music. I’ve got Michael Jordan, a big sporting icon. I’ve got Al Pacino from Scarface because of his journey starting from the bottom, reaching the top. I had this vision I was going to make it as a pro player and I had all these big-time people just kind of sit where I was trying to get to.”
Whenever Ioane visits a new place, he collects a motif to remind him of the trip. More than once, that habit has landed him in painful situations on the field. Fresh ink and rugby collisions are not easy bedfellows.
“I can’t lie, there have been many I’ve got the day or two days before a game, strapped up and tried avoiding landing on during the game. I’ve got one on my right leg, just below my arse. Trying to avoid landing on that in a game was just terrible. Every time I was going into contact I would try to turn my body so they didn’t hit that side. Obviously not ideal when you’re trying to play professional rugby,” he chuckles.
If Ioane sounds flippant about his sport here, the truth is starkly different. He has long been infatuated with the game, scrapping his way up the ladder in Australia, moving to Stade Francais as a young hopeful, fighting for minutes in New Zealand, taking a leap to Benetton in 2017 and qualifying for Italy through residency, before settling in Lyon, where he plays now in the Top 14.
He never doubted his abilities, but he did question his faith. Ioane has always been an inquisitive soul. Rather than be told the grass was green and the sky blue, he was minded to go outside and look for himself. Sometimes, the devout Catholicism and cloying strictures of his Pasifika upbringing felt too autocratic. He alludes to some poor decisions fuelled by youthful angst. He wound up converting to Islam when he met his wife, Melisa, a practising Muslim.
No game is easy for us, but I guess on the other side of that is being part of a team that finally has belief. It was always the mental side we’d struggled with for years.
“I don’t really want to get into too much detail but I did get into some rough patches when I was much younger,” he reflects. “From a young age I’ve always been very curious about certain things. I needed proof for things to make sense to me. It was really difficult for me to blindly follow. The Bible wasn’t enough for me. Putting me in that box, I struggled, and it probably made me rebellious. I’m not trying to say I was an angel, that’s just kind of how my life went.”
In some ways, this notion of a flawed maverick speaks to the romance of Italian sporting icons. Ioane nearly quit the game four years ago after Italy’s hoodoo-smashing win in Cardiff. A call from former coach Kieran Crowley lured him back from Australia and rekindled his zest for rugby. He has never shirked confrontation either. There were memorable clashes with James Lowe when Italy gave Ireland palpitations just last month. Lowe, as it transpires, is Ioane’s ex-landlord.
“He definitely loves the chat. I know him quite well because I actually used to stay in his house when he was at the Chiefs. I was injury cover for him because he had done his shoulder and had a reconstruction, and I moved from Paris in the Stade Francais academy to New Zealand to cover for him. I was living in his house, paying his rent.”
These are heady times for the Azzurri. With Scotland vanquished and Dublin so nearly sacked, they have sold out a raucous Stadio Olimpico for the visit of foundering England. In 35 years of trying, Italy have never derailed the English chariot. They will assault Steve Borthwick’s nine changes and new combinations with their cohesive and effective units. The midfield, in particular, looks profitable, with the symbiotic Nacho Brex and Tommaso Menoncello against Seb Atkinson and Tommy Freeman, who have never played together. The latter, a world-class wing, is still learning the rigors of the outside centre role at this level.
“They’ve had big change in their squad and that’s going to show fresh energy and a point to prove from some of those players’ points of view,” Ioane says.
“It’s quite drastic changing a whole backline like that. Either they could play or, I don’t know, we’ve got to be prepared for it. But we know it’s going to be a big aerial game for us. We actually have a high kicking game as well, so we have been practising quite heavily.
“No game is easy for us, but I guess on the other side of that is being part of a team that finally has belief. It was always the mental side we’d struggled with for years. When I arrived, it was amazing how they would haul a try out of nothing then as soon as a try gets leaked in, the flood gates open and you have a look and you are 50 points down. We’re now part of a team which finally gets its recognition.”
This Italian crop has been together since the pandemic. Talented pups thrown en masse into the Test arena by Franco Smith are now hard-bitten 50-cappers. Ioane and Brex are two of the only squad members over 30. The blend is compelling. Italy have the class, and are at last showing signs of the composure, to turn statement wins into sustained success.
“Year after year, we are always pulling something off which has always been a surprise for me,” Ioane says. “It’s not that that we’re winning consistently to the point it just becomes the norm.
I’ve never been a part of teams where week after week, we are getting wins.
“After every win I get with Italy regardless of whether it’s a big or small team I’m always very emotional. I’ve never been a part of teams where week after week, we are getting wins. I was part of a team in New Zealand who were struggling, then I came to Benetton and we were building, and then I went to the Italy team, and now that I’m at Lyon, we are not getting wins every game. I cried just as much beating Scotland as I did beating Australia in November, and Australia is my home country.
“The emotions, just riding that wave, every time we get that win it’s like ‘f**k, I can’t believe we did it’.”
Teeth, tattoos, and maybe, should Italy carve out a slice of rugby history, some tears too. With Monty Ioane, what you see is what you get.
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Certainly has a passion for the fashion.
I think he's a class player who has really matured across the last few seasons.