Ioane wings it for Blues to suit team’s interests

If it’s good enough for the All Blacks, it’s certainly just fine and dandy for the Blues.

That was Tana Umaga’s rationale as the Blues coach went through the not-too-difficult process of deciding on Rieko Ioane’s best position to kick off the 2018 Super Rugby season.

Ioane has been named on the left wing to start the Blues’ final pre-season hitout against the Hurricanes at Warkworth tomorrow (4pm kickoff), and all things being equal that is right where he will remain when the serious stuff starts next week.

Ioane, of course, has made it known he’d prefer to play at centre for his Blues franchise, even on the back of a breakthrough test campaign for the All Blacks in 2017 where he was used exclusively on the left wing with eye-catching success.

As Umaga has ushered his All Blacks back, the coach admitted that picking Ioane on the left wing in a near full-strength starting XV was not something he spent too much time on.

‘‘And I think that goes even higher up,’’ said the coach with a smile. ‘‘As I said to him, it’s hard to put you at centre when you’re the world’s best left winger. So it’s his own fault at the moment.

‘‘We know he wants to play at centre, but credit to Rieko, he wants to do what’s best for the team. He’ll get his opportunity there at some stage, as he did last year, but it’s up to those midfielders to put their best foot forward because they know he wants it.’’

Umaga, who knows a thing or two about morphing from a test wing into a midfielder, said he believed Ioane was in the best position for him at this stage of his career.

‘‘I was nowhere near as fast as he was, and I don’t think there’s going to be any time he’s going to lose that. It’s a good place to start and you get a real understanding of what a midfielder needs to do, because when you’re on the wing you’re always talking to your midfield to give you the ball.