SBW out as Kaino returns

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

Melani Nanai, Matt Duffie, George Moala, TJ Faiane, Rieko Ioane, Bryn Gatland, Augustine Pulu (capt); Akira Ioane, Murphy Taramai, Jimmy Tupou, Scott Scrafton, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, James Parsons, Pauliasi Manu. Reserves: Leni Apisai, Alex Hodgman, Michael Tamoaieta, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Jerome Kaino, Sam Nock, Daniel Kirkpatrick, Michael Collins. 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.