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Expect an 'energised and excited' Rieko Ioane in bench role for All Blacks

Paris , France - 14 October 2023; Rieko Ioane of New Zealand celebrates his side's victory during the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between Ireland and New Zealand at the Stade de France in Paris, France. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

The All Blacks‘ team naming for their Test against Argentina saw a couple of changes to the familiar matchday 23, most notably the selection of Anton Lienert-Brown in the No. 13 jersey.

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The promotion from what had been most commonly an impact role to begin Scott Robertson’s head coaching tenure as well as during the Rugby World Cup knockout stages, came at the expense of Rieko Ioane.

Having owned the starting jersey for multiple seasons, the winger-turned-centre’s demotion could have disparaged Ioane, but assistant coach Leon MacDonald says the speedster has been working hard to show selectors what he’s capable of.

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“Rieks has been great this week, he’s just got into his work really well with a great attitude and worked really hard on a lot of areas of his game,” the former Blues head coach told media at Friday’s captains run.

“He’s had a chat to Razor around what they expect from him and taken that on board and I think you’ll see a very energised and excited Rieko on Saturday night.”

Also earning selection in the starting unit is Test rookie Sam Darry, who is set to start alongside Tupou Vaa’i in the second row.

Injuries to captain Scott Barrett and Patrick Tuipulotu have made way for the youngsters, with Josh Lord returning from injury to provide impact off the bench.

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Despite the youth of the locking unit, MacDonald said the coaches had every bit of faith in the trio.

“Very confident. Tupou, in particular, has got some good experience already and he’ll be leading our lineout, he’s done a fantastic job at that and is looking forward to that opportunity.

“And Sam Darry’s just made every post a winner since he’s come in. He’s shown some real composure and maturity both on and off the field. So he’s excited about his opportunity as well.”

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As for the opposition, Los Pumas have become one of New Zealand’s most familiar rivals since joining what was once the Tri-Nations, with a strong run of results against the Kiwis in the last World Cup cycle.

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“They’ve become a genuine top-tier nation; semi-finalists at the World Cup, they’ve beaten the All Blacks, they come with a lot of confidence in their game, they know their game inside-out and their strengths and they play to them.

“They have a unique style in the way they play, especially their attack. So, they’ll challenge us across the park on their attack, they like to hold the ball and build phases in attack and are very abrasive in defence, especially at the breakdown.

“So, a lot of those areas we’re going to have to be right on.”

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Comments

2 Comments
A
Andrew Nichols 349 days ago

Great!Look fwd to him reappearing on the wing from the bench. Go on Razor ..Make a statement.

M
MattJH 348 days ago

I’m hoping to see Rieko Ione brought on in the last 25 minutes against a tired Argentina side 20-30 points down. It’ll be a goddamn bloodbath.

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Soliloquin 1 hour ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

I don’t know the financial story behind the changes that were implemented, but I guess clubs started to lose money, Mourad Boudjellal won it all with Toulon, got tired and wanted to invest in football , the French national team was at its lowest with the QF humiliation in 2015 and the FFR needed to transform the model where no French talent could thrive. Interestingly enough, the JIFF rule came in during the 2009/2010 season, so before the Toulon dynasty, but it was only 40% of the players that to be from trained in French academies. But the crops came a few years later, when they passed it at the current level of 70%.

Again, I’m not a huge fan of under 18 players being scouted and signed. I’d rather have French clubs create sub-academies in French territories like Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia and other places that are culturally closer to RU and geographically closer to rugby lands. Mauvaka, Moefana, Taofifenua bros, Tolofua bros, Falatea - they all came to mainland after starting their rugby adventure back home.

They’re French, they come from economically struggling areas, and rugby can help locally, instead of lumping foreign talents.

And even though many national teams benefit from their players training and playing in France, there are cases where they could avoid trying to get them in the French national team (Tatafu).

In other cases, I feel less shame when the country doesn’t believe in the player like in Meafou’s case.

And there are players that never consider switching to the French national team like Niniashvili, Merckler or even Capuozzo, who is French and doesn’t really speak Italian.

We’ll see with Jacques Willis 🥲


But hey, it’s nothing new to Australia and NZ with PI!

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