Hot Ioane powers Auckland home against Wellington
Akira Ioane may not be good enough for the biggest All Blacks touring party in history, but he’ll do Auckland coach Alama Ieremia just nicely, thank you.
The blockbusting No 8 produced a superb, matchwinning, two-try masterclass against Wellington on a sun-drenched Eden Park yesterday afternoon to propel Auckland to the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership final against Canterbury on the same ground in seven days’ time (4.05pm kickoff).
Ieremia’s side will chase their first title since 2007. Ioane could simply do no wrong in this clinical 38-17 semifinal victory as he got involved in all facets of the game – scoring tries, laying them on, forcing turnovers, making tackles and carrying with his trademark bulldozing intent – to send a clear message to the All Blacks selectors who left him out of the 51 players to undertake the final component of the test year.
Never mind, Auckland were more than happy to ride their ball-playing loose forward all the way into their first national final since 2015 as they dominated a free-flowing match with a five tries to two performance.
It was their seventh victory against the men from the capital.
The home side certainly made the most of their chances, and punished the visitors for their looseness at lineout time and in executing off the penalty options.
Ioane was the dominant player on the paddock, by some way, but Melani Nanai produced a quality display for the victors, as did skipper TJ Faiane, centre Tumua Manu, impressive young first-five Harry in the last eight
Auckland 38
(Melani Nanai, Fa’atiga Lemalu, Akira Ioane 2, Marco Fepulea’i tries; Harry Plummer 5 con, pen)
Wellington 17
(Wes Goosen, Teariki Ben-Nicholas tries; Jackson Garden-Bachop pen, 2 con). 24-10.
HT:
Plummer and pretty much the whole pack.
Auckland dominated at breakdown time, if not at the scrum, and the work done by the forwards in establishing that handy 24-10 halftime was oh so crucial.
Wellington gave it a shake, with No 8 Teariki BenNicholas and Wes Goosen probably the pick of the visitors. But they made too many errors when opportunities presented and could not put the scoreboard pressure on their hosts.
Ieremia’s men put together about as good a first 40 minutes as the coach could have dreamed of, scoring three tries to one and stretching out to a 24-10 halftime lead in the sunshine at the suburban ground some say is past its use-by date.
It was a strong, clinical, muscular first half from the Aucklanders. Yes, semifinal footy as its best.
They scored one superb try from long range, the outstanding Ioane making a break off a scrum 60 metres out, with Jonathan Ruru playing link man and Melani Nanai doing very well to apply the finishing touch in traffic.
That eighth-minute strike had answered the early score to Wes Goosen, put clear by Jackson GardenBachop’s slippery break, to level things up at 7-7. Then the Auckland forwards simply took over.
Standout lock Fa’atiga Lemalu scored a quality try on the quarter-hour mark, showing admirable strength and a telescopic arm to reach out for the score on the one-off line. That came from a scrum option off a penalty.
Then, just past the half-hour mark Ioane crossed for his fourth try of the season with a simply brilliant