Rugby: Is 2018 the year of Akira Ioane?

Akira Ioane of the Blues races away to score a try. Photo / Getty

If 2017 was the year of Rieko, 2018 might be all about Akira. Maybe.

The older Ioane brother looks like he has summered well. He's trimmer – or maybe he just looks it thanks to the better kempt beard.

But he's definitely sharper, hungrier and more focused. Two games into the season and he hasn't yet embroiled himself in any needless off the ball scuffling.

As it happened: Chiefs hold on to beat Blues

Akira Ioane, it would seem, is a new man and it feels like he could at last be on the right track. The same one as his younger brother that could take him to the All Blacks and, possibly, international stardom.

There's a way to go yet, but the signs are all good. Never mind that the Blues have opened the season with two losses and may struggle for the remainder of the campaign: that didn't stop Rieko conquering the world last year and it needn't necessarily be an impediment to Akira getting to where he wants to be either.

Amid some fairly forgettable passages of rugby, the bit that will stick out for most observers was the way Ioane so easily scored the Blues' second try.

The ball popped up to him 20 metres from the Chiefs line and he was given enough room to get into his running.

That was pretty much the end of the matter because if he can get going, Ioane is deadly as he showed when he swerved and bumped past three defenders to smash over under the posts.

When he's allowed to build up a head of steam, he's a fearsome sight: almost unstoppable given his pace, agility, balance and power and that is the attraction.

Ioane is a rare athlete – the sort who can change games in an instant and who doesn't imagine sometimes what he could do if he was part of the All Blacks and given the freedom to impose himself?

But those open field moments are not enough. Never have been and the challenge laid down for Ioane by the All Blacks coaches is to get himself more involved in the traditional core skills of a loose forward.

Which he did against the Chiefs. Not spectacularly but well enough to be convinced he's finally realised that hitting rucks and tackling with his shoulders square aren't optional.

He managed a few close quarter blasts as well where his leg drive was good, his desire to stay on his feet and work for that extra metre obvious.

His workrate was also good. Not in the same league as Sam Cane's – but no one's was – but he hung in there, kept running and looking for the ball even if he did appear, by 60 minutes, to be battling for good oxygen flow.

The Blues might not have many good stories to tell this year, but the rebirth of another Ioane could be one.