Warm welcome: Maori pleased to have Ioane
Auckland loose forward Akira Ioane has been named in the NZ Ma¯ori rugby squad to tour America next month, his availability for the team surprising coach Clayton McMillan.
‘‘We didn’t really anticipate Akira being involved with us and he’s going to be a significant boost for our team,’’ McMillan said at the announcement of the squad in Auckland yesterday.
‘‘We’re all well aware of his strengths and we’ll welcome him with open arms,’’ McMillan said of the player who missed out on All Blacks honours.
McMillan said he and the NZ Maori selectors looked during the season as to who might become available for the tour and didn’t have Ioane on their radar.
‘‘He’s been a part of the All Blacks environment for the last 12-18 months,’’ McMillan said. ‘‘We make a few assumptions fairly early on on who might be available to us and we obviously got that one wrong.’’
The 23-year-old Ioane, who appeared as a replacement against a French XV in Lyon last November, is a ballrunner with x-factor, but the All Blacks selectors believe there are parts of his game he needs to polish.
He’ll get a chance to do that with NZ Ma¯ ori on this tour and McMillan says this could help him join brother Reiko in the All Blacks. He will also provide leadership to the Ma¯ ori team.
‘‘He may have a leadership role, but equally we want him to express himself, play well and put himself back in the picture for the All Blacks.’’
McMillan has named 27 players for the tripleheader in Chicago on November 4, where the Blacks Ferns will also take on USA and Ireland will play Italy in a test.
Five players in Japan with the All Blacks, will later join the NZ Ma¯ ori tour for the South American leg. They are prop Tyrel Lomax, lock Jackson Hemopo, halfback Bryn Hall, midfielder Matt Proctor and winger Nehe Milner-Skudder.
Because of the 51 players named by the All Blacks for their end-of-season commitments, McMillan said it was complicated to finalise his squad.
‘‘It had its challenges, but the All Blacks management and coaching staff have been extremely open around who
might become available to us, post the Japan commitments,’’ he said.
There are nine new faces in the squad; hooker Robbie Abel, locks Isaia Walker-Leawere and Pari Pari Parkinson, loose forwards Hoani Matenga, Billy Harmon, and Mitchell Karpik, first-five Joshua Ioane, midfielder Matthew Landsown and outside back Jonah Lowe.
Those players who are with provinces in the Mitre 10 Cup playoffs will remain with them until knocked out and the team will fly to Chicago on October 28, the day after the Mitre 10 Cup finals.
While it’s good for provinces to keep hold of their best players at such an important time of the season, it does make it harder for McMillan to prepare the team in camp. ‘‘It has its challenges, but we’re well aware of them and the team has operated under those circumstances for a number of years now.
‘‘From a preparation point of view, we just have to keep things really simple and when they come into the fold get excited very quickly about playing an international team,’’ McMillan said.