Leinster have their latest shiny overseas plaything, only it isn’t readily apparent where he fits in the toy box.
Farewell Jordie Barrett, welcome Rieko Ioane. Two All Black centres who can play elsewhere in the backline. Only with Barrett, there was a sense that variety was a weapon. He was a true utility back who was comfortable at 12, 15 or even 10 if the situation required.
With Ioane, the intrigue around his best position stems more from instability. Looking at how the All Blacks have used the 28-year-old in recent times, you get the sense that, rather than being happy sticking him wherever, they themselves don’t know if he’s best at centre or wing.
Leinster will have their own opinion. Being on the bench for Saturday’s Champions Cup opener against ‘Quins kicks the can down the road somewhat. He’ll play where he’s needed first time out.
RM Block
Ioane has started 77 games for the All Blacks. Thirty-six of those games wearing number 11, the majority of which came between at the start of his career from 2017-2021. Having first started an international match at 13 in 2020, Ioane pretty much exclusively wore that jersey from 2021 until this year. All told, he has started 41 international matches at 13.
Here’s the source of the recent uncertainty: after that four-year span locking down the Kiwi midfield, Ioane moved again. All Blacks boss Scott Robertson started him on the wing for five Tests during the most recent Rugby Championship. During the November internationals, Robertson went back on his conviction, Ioane’s lone autumn appearance coming at 13 against Wales.
In the last few months, was Ioane an adaptable utility back or unable to nail down one position or the other? Recent form at wing may well offer some sort of answer.
In his first game back on the flank, against France during their summer tour of New Zealand, Ioane’s numbers were good. Needless to say, you want your wings to be putting up good attacking metrics, breaking the line, beating plenty of defenders and racking up carrying metres.
In the first French Test, Ioane made eight carries, three line breaks, 78 metres with ball in hand while beating a pair of defenders. Not too shabby.
Thereafter, the numbers trended downwards. In four subsequent Tests during our summer (winter down in NZ), either against France or southern hemisphere rivals, Ioane did not cross 50 metres in a single match. He went four consecutive games without beating a defender. His last three outings did not see a line break recorded. In one particularly disappointing defeat to Argentina, he touched the ball just twice and made three metres in the process.
Ioane did not start in the last three Rugby Championship matches against South Africa and Australia (twice). He couldn’t get back into the team for the start of the November campaign either, Caleb Clarke taking his slot at left wing while Quinn Tupaea and Leicester Fainga’anuku saw game time at 13.
Of course, attacking statistics don’t tell the full story. There aren’t many publicly available metrics for kick chase capabilities, a crucial part of the modern winger’s role.
If a return to the wing didn’t go well for Ioane, why was he moved in the first place? Despite the challenge of asking a wing to learn how to defend at centre, figures at Ioane’s club, the Blues, remain adamant that defence was actually a strength of his at 13. How that looks in a Jacques Nienaber, high line speed system which tends to be foreign to Kiwis remains a point of interest.
Take Ioane and compare him to Garry Ringrose, the man who is his competition for the 13 shirt, should Leo Cullen, Nienaber and co look to move him back in from the wing. The best way of using publicly available data to look at the two is to use Opta’s database from the last World Cup.
Then, Ioane had a 79 per cent tackle success figure and four per cent dominant hit figure. Ringrose was only “successful” with 55 per cent of his tackles but was dominant 10 per cent of the time. On one hand, this is a reflection of Ioane’s defensive merit. On the other, this is the statistical manifestation of Ringrose’s job, flying out of the line to shut down attacks at risk of missing tackles. Ireland analyst Vinny Hammond did once say that missed tackle percentage is the most overrated stat going.
When attacking at that World Cup, Ioane was dominant with 57 per cent of his carries, beat the gain line 65 per cent of the time and evaded 30 per cent of tackles faced. Ringrose’s same numbers were 72, 68 and 19. Stronger carries from the Irishman, it would seem, but Ioane was better able to go around defenders, rather than through them. This shouldn’t be surprising, given Ioane’s status as a converted wing. Albeit he is certainly a bigger athlete now than earlier in his career, a change which makes beating players with pace all the more difficult.
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Ultimately, Leinster’s injury situation may well make their decision for them. For this week at least, Robbie Henshaw (hamstring) and James Lowe (calf) are missing, but Ioane won’t plug those gaps just yet. In the medium term, would they consider playing him at centre at Ringrose’s expense, considering his lack of familiarity with the system?
Bringing others into the game has been the biggest work-on of Ioane’s time at centre. Memorably, he had two try assists in the 2023 quarter-final defeat of Ireland.
The safest bet is to do what Leinster have done and put Ioane on the bench in the 23 shirt. Give him another week to settle before starting and force the game situation to dictate where he plays.
Despite his loss of recent form, Ioane is an international quality player who, certainly at club level, may well just need time on the pitch to influence proceedings in a positive way. No matter what the number on his back.
