Rieko Ioane could move back to the All Blacks wing with Mark Telea leaving.
Ioane’s speed has been seldom seen in the centre position for five years.
Playing Ioane on the wing now could help develop younger wingers and find a new centre.
With Mark Telea due to leave New Zealand rugby, this test season seems the right time for Rieko Ioane to move back to the All Blacks wing.
Ioane’s five years as a test centre have been, well, functional. His trademark speed has been stifled by the lackof room in the midfield – and his distribution and timing of a pass is not always top drawer. He is a key part of the All Blacks’ defence these days, but defence was not the main reason for his positional switch from the wing.
Caleb Clarke is an incumbent, with Emoni Narawa, the uncapped (but now injured) Kini Naholo and Sevu Reece contenders for Telea’s spot – but none has the express pace that brought Ioane so many tries in his early years.
All Blacks wingers are different beasts from when Ioane began his test career. Today’s game, with defences lining up suffocating streams of tacklers, has seen power wingers grow in importance by operating as extra loose forwards.
Initiated by Leicester Fainga’anuku, developed further by Telea, following the ball to rucks and sniping from the base has become a required skill for the likes of Narawa, Clarke, Naholo, Reece and Timoci Tavatavanawai. The logic is simple: with today’s defences, wings cannot stand on the flanks and wait for the ball to arrive. Striking from the base of a ruck, with defenders tied up in the push-and-shove, makes sense; power wings can break tackles and offload to pierce defences close in.
That has been part of the reason for the relative demise of wings with real pace. There are few who qualify as genuine speedsters amid a comparative shortage of top-class wings. Sighted recently on the wing in Super Rugby: Daniel Rona (Chiefs), Corey Evans and Cole Forbes (Blues), all covering for injuries and underlining the dearth of top wings.
Timoci Tavatavanawai on the charge for Tasman. Photo / Photosport
Ioane is only 28 and still possesses pace which can so trouble defences, particularly wide out in the broken play/counter-attack style the All Blacks clearly want to employ.
Earlier this year, Scott Robertson reviewed his maiden year as coach, telling the Herald: “By the end-of-year tour, we started to implement our DNA and how we wanted to play the game. We had the ball in our hands for long times and put a lot of pressure on teams. That will continue. Statistically, we made the most line breaks; most defenders beaten, most offloads and most carries in world rugby. We got better and better and our game understanding and calls embedded through the year – but we didn’t quite execute and finish enough.”
Out-and-out speed makes a difference – witness Will Jordan’s regular contributions. With new rules meaning the ball is in play more and fatigue becoming a factor, speed is an important option again. Go back a few years to pace-merchants Doug Howlett and Joe Rokocoko. Howlett is still the leading All Blacks test try scorer (49 tries in 62 tests); Rokocoko looked for a time like he might beat that record before finishing tied for second (with Christian Cullen) with 46 from 68 tests. Jordan is widely regarded as the man to top that list eventually (he has 38 from 41 tests; Ioane has 37 from his 80 tests, most scored on the wing).
The common denominator: pace. Sure, the game has changed but having a back-three player of express speed, as well as Jordan, could be crucial. Remember last year when Reece, playing against France, was embarrassed for pace by lightning wing Louis Bielle-Barrey?
Ioane is heading to Ireland on sabbatical next year, but playing him on the wing now will give the All Blacks time to develop younger wingers – the likes of Caleb Tangitau, Leroy Carter, Kyren Taumoefolau and Naholo – and find a new centre.
If the ranks of top-class wings are comparatively thin, the supply of premier centres is anorexic. Billy Proctor is the obvious successor to Ioane but it is an enduring mystery why he was so little played last year. Anton Lienert-Brown is 30 and has spent a lot of time in the injury ward lately. Braydon Ennor is also class but has had a horror spell with injury, and now French clubs are circling. Fainga’anuku returns from France next season, where he has been playing in the midfield ... he could be the answer.
Rona and Bailyn Sullivan have claims and I have a sneaking regard for Sullivan’s Hurricanes teammate Riley Higgins – a second five-eighths now but who has something about him on attack.
Other possibilities are wing/fullback Chay Fihaki – yet to fully convince in that role but who has a gliding style and good distribution – and the Blues’ former wing AJ Lam, who has made a good fist of moving to midfield. He could move out a spot.
So far this All Blacks’ coaching group have shown few signs of adventurous selection (Wallace Sititi apart) or stamping their own mark on what most viewed as largely Ian Foster’s team. Sam Cane and TJ Perenara played tests and went on tour last year, despite impending departures.
Robertson has been adamant about the need to balance experience with development to win tests. So it will be interesting to see if Telea is similarly retained, despite his Japan contract and some ordinary form for the Blues – and whether they keep Ioane at centre.
Paul Lewis writes about rugby, cricket, league, football, yachting, golf, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
