Akira Ioane’s good form is good news all round

SBW out as Kaino returns

OPINION: Twelve months ago Akira Ioane started the season at No 8 for the Blues and lasted a game-and-a-half.

He had begun quite brightly against the Rebels in round one but by round three Murphy Taramai had been given the jersey.

Ioane had paid the price for firing too few shots against the Chiefs in round two. Tomorrow night he gets to show how much he has learnt against the same opponents, but the early signs are very good.

Ioane can do things few other loose forwards can do - the size, the pace, the skills were all there against the Highlanders. And it’s the No 8 jersey that gives him the licence to do it.

When Ioane did make it back into the Blues last year it was at No 6. He played against the British and Lions twice at blindside, once for the Blues and once for the NZ Maori, and he fronted on both occasions.

But what a joy it was to see him operating at the base of the scrum for the Blues in Dunedin, taking up a deeper position to link with his wing from Aaron Smith’s kicks, and roaming wide on attack on either side of the paddock.

He’s a No 8. We know it now but in retrospect he always has been, from the moment he captured our attention for the New Zealand Under 20s in 2015.

It has become standard in discussions about Ioane to discuss work-rate. Yet there he was, deep into the last 10 minutes in Dunedin, helping force a Tana Umaga has welcomed back a couple of his big guns, but lost All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams to a knee knock for tomorrow’s Super Rugby home opener against the Chiefs at Eden Park.

Despite a pretty impressive effort overall in their seasonopening 41-34 defeat to the Highlanders in Dunedin last Friday, Umaga has made five changes to his starting XV and five more to a rearranged bench.

All Black Jerome Kaino and loose forward Jimmy Tupou have recovered from injuries to take their place in the matchday 23.

Tupou comes in to start at blindside flanker, replacing the injured Glenn Preston (calf), while Kaino will cover the loose forward spots on the bench.

Umaga has made four other

Highlanders mistake with a big counter-ruck.

Other small areas pointed to his growth. Ioane was a key lineout target in the second half and his disruptive efforts in defensive lineouts were central to causing scrappy ball for the Highlanders.

But when we talk about Ioane it should also be a celebration of the special things he can do.

There are few, if any, No 8s in this country who could have made Ioane’s tries on Friday look so routine.

For his scrum try, the plan was clearly to target Smith but Ioane’s route to the little halfback was complicated by the movement of

changes from the XV that started against the Highlanders. Melani Nanai replaces Michael Collins at fullback, with the latter dropping to the bench, and TJ Faiane comes in at second five-eighths with Williams ruled out after banging his knee.

the scrum, which was screwing to the left. By the time Ioane powered over the line he had blasted through three defenders - Smith, Lima Sopoaga and Dillon Hunt.

As for his second, it looked like he was going for a Sunday jog. Even Kieran Read may no longer have Ioane’s athleticism or sheer power.

If Read does not recover in time for the June series against France, would anyone grumble about a Squire-Sam Cane-Ioane back-row with the Highlanders and Chiefs hard-men freeing up Ioane to run wild on the fringes?

Once again, the possibilities look endless for Akira Ioane.