Rieko Ioane, standing on the brink of his 100th game for the Blues which he will celebrate after Friday’s semifinal against the Crusaders, has acknowledged the tough times he’s had with a franchise which hasn’t won a significant title since 2003.
Ioane, still only 26, joined the Blues for the 2016 season and made his All Blacks debut that same year aged 19.
While he was involved in the Blues’ Super Rugby trans-Tasman win during a Covid-affected 2021, it has been 20 long years since they won a championship involving matches against New Zealand opposition.
Last month, older brother Akira celebrated his 100th game for the Blues after his side’s 15-3 defeat to the Crusaders in Christchurch.
Rieko wants to go one better on Friday night in order to face off against either the Chiefs or Brumbies in the grand final the following weekend, and today reflected a career that has had its ups and downs.
“I didn’t know how this team was going to end up in a couple of years and to get here now, it’s awesome to see the growth in not only myself but … the team … and we’re reaping the benefits of those harsh years that we initially had," he said.
“Looking at my earlier years, it didn’t seem achievable at the time, we were just making numbers up. Now we feel like we’ve got the team and the belief.
“I’m a proud Aucklander and Blues man so to bring up 100 games, God willing, for the club on Friday night will be an awesome achievement.”
Departing Blues coach Leon MacDonald, a former Crusaders player and coach, has helped resurrect the Blues into a consistently high-performing franchise after several barren years under Sir John Kirwan and his successor Tana Umaga.
Last year they made the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and in fact cruised all the way to the grand final before running into the Crusaders at Eden Park where their rivals dismantled their lineout and all but had the game won by halftime.
This came after the Blues broke their long drought in Christchurch with a victory in the round-robin.
Rieko, who revealed today that he was a big Umaga and Hurricanes fan growing up, said the Crusaders had shown the way for all teams but that the Blues would travel south with confidence high.
“They’re a tightknit team who know how to win the big games,” he said. “They’ve shown that countless times. That’s where this team is looking to get to.”
For coach MacDonald, the team’s individual milestones – No.8 Hoskins Sotutu will celebrate his 50th match – were important but not to be focused on.
“We’ve spoken about it – we’ve got to respect it but we don’t want it to become too big and over-rule the occasion,” he said.
“There’s plenty up for grabs and we’ll acknowledge it after the game. For Rieks in particular, we don’t it to become a burden. It’s a pretty amazing achievement for someone so young and he’s got plenty of rugby left.
Despite the Crusaders’ record of never losing a home playoffs match, MacDonald stressed that the Blues felt they had the talent and game plan to make history.
“They’ve got an amazing record but we definitely think we can compete across the field and we back ourselves," he said.
As for the rivalry, which Rieko Ioane described as “bitter” and skipper Dalton Papali’i last week described as “bad blood”, MacDonald said: “You probably heard that from Dalts last week. There’s definitely a different feel when you play the Crusaders.”
Blues team to play the Crusaders at Orangetheory Stadium on Friday, kick-off 7.05pm, is:
15. Zarn Sullivan
14. Mark Telea
13. Rieko Ioane
12. Bryce Heem
11. Caleb Clarke
10. Beauden Barrett
9. Finlay Christie
8. Hoskins Sotutu
7. Dalton Papali’i ©
6. Akira Ioane
5. James Tucker
4. Tom Robinson
3. Nepo Laulala
2. Ricky Riccitelli
1. Ofa Tuungafasi
Reserves:
16. Kurt Eklund
17. Jordan Lay
18. Marcel Renata
19. Cameron Suafoa
20. Adrian Choat
21. Sam Nock
22. Harry Plummer
23. Stephen Perofeta
SHARE ME