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'Players just know what he's going to do': All Blacks centre Ioane needs to evolve to avoid predictability
Stephen Foote • November 18th, 2024 1:26 pm
Bursting onto the scene as a 19-year-old All Black debutant, Rieko Ioane emphatically made his mark on the international stage, before Steve Hansen relocated him from the wing to the midfield four years later in 2020.
He's since become part of an incumbent midfield pairing alongside Jordie Barrett in a combination that has never quite found its footing.
The same could be said of Ioane, who hasn't rediscovered the dizzying heights he hit on the wing during his time in the No. 13 jersey. That was magnified during Sunday's defeat to the French, after Barrett's early injury departure.
According to his former All Blacks teammate Israel Dagg, Ioane has become easier pray for opposition defences due to his predictability on attack, leaving him questioning whether centre is his optimal role.
Ioane's highly publicised beef with Ireland's Johnny Sexton have seen him prominent in the headlines during the All Black's stint in Europe, but Dagg wonders whether his product on the field has been as influential.
"Rieko's strengths are his speed, his ability to break on the outside, but defenders know that," Dagg said.
"You saw him trying to beat (French centre Gael) Fikou on the outside constantly, get the ball on an outside burst. So, if I'm a defender, I stay on his outside because he's only going to beat you on the outside.
"I'm not really sold on Rieko as a centre. He's a hell of a player, hell of an athlete. Big couple of weeks for him off the field, but has he been able to deliver on the field?"
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Dagg says Ioane needs to add some more tools to his arsenal to increase his impact on a contest and keep defences guessing, identifying another of his former All Blacks teammates as the ideal player model to aspire to.
"I just want to see him evolve his game," Dagg added.
"You look at Ma'a Nonu when he first came on the scene. Absolute beast ball in hand. Could run over players, could run hard sold lines, really direct.
"But he evolved his game over the years. He became one of the team's best kickers. How many times did you see him put a grubber through or a little chip kick . He had the ability to pass and hit a man on the money every single time defensively. He had a triple threat.
"But he had to work on that. Every single day, he was out there doing the reps post training to consistently better his game.
"I'm not saying that Rieko's not doing that. But I think, at the moment, players just know what Rieko's going to do. Players know he's going to go for that outside burst because he backs his pace and he is lightning fast.
"So he's got to just work on other styles of play."
Listen to the full chat below:
