Monty Ioane joins Radradra and Rattez in outstanding Top 14 backline
Melbourne Rebels winger Monty Ioane is set to leave Super Rugby and make his return to Europe with Lyon in the Top 14.
After leaving Benetton Treviso for Australia due to "mental health" issues last year, Ioane has now signed a two year contract with Lyon. He is expected to join the team after representing Italy in the upcoming World Cup, having been named in the training squad in May.
Born in Melbourne to Samoan and Fijian parents, Ioane was educated in Brisbane and was part of the Reds' development program before venturing to France. He made his Top 14 debut at the age of 18 for Stade Francais before moving to New Zealand, where he caught the attention of former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, who convinced him to join the Chiefs. He was unable to secure a place in the Super Rugby team and subsequently moved to Italy, where he played for Benetton until 2022.
Despite being born in Australia, he has never represented his country of birth, nor Samoa or Fiji, instead, he qualified to play for Italy under World Rugby criteria that allowed him to represent the nation under the then three year residency rule.
In September, Ioane terminated his contract with the URC side, citing mental health reasons.
Ioane will be joining a stacked backline at Lyon, with the likes of Semi Radradra, Vincent Rattez, and Thaakir Abrahams, already signed up for the upcoming season in the Top 14. Standing at 1.80 meters and weighing 95 kilograms, the 29-year-old Australian-born player brings his speed, power and skill to the Rhône.
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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