Bledisloe Cup Rugby: ‘tough’ start for All Blacks rookies after outside factors cut off test against Wallabies

Akira Ioane and Will Jordan’s test debuts at the All Blacks didn’t go as planned.

Both young stars made their first tryout appearance Saturday night in the All Blacks’ loss to the Wallabies in Brisbane: Ioane started out as a blind side flanker, while Jordan made his debut off the bench.

But, due to factors beyond their control, none of them played the role they would have hoped for.

Ioane was taken off the field in the 30th minute after a red card to support Ofa Tuungafasi meant the All Blacks had to substitute for another to bring in another forward rower in his place, and Ioane was the unlucky one to be called your number.

Jordan, who was the most dynamic attacking player in Super Rugby Aotearoa, had his first test rugby experience when he replaced Ngani Laumape after 65 minutes. But his night came to an end just five minutes after he suffered a blow to the head.

“It’s tough,” veteran All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor said of Ioane and Jordan’s debuts. “Especially for (Akira), taken by something he can’t control.

“But it was all good, it was for the benefit of the team; something that had to happen and unfortunately it was him.

“Same for (Will); it was unfortunate that he hit his head a bit … a lot of the things that happened were out of his control so they still have to be sure that given the chance they can still go out and Act . “

The pair’s inclusion in the game day squad was one of the changes made by All Blacks coach Ian Foster for the fourth and final round of the Bledisloe Cup. With the Cup now closed for another year, Foster opted to try out some new combinations and give some of the new players to the squad a chance to make their mark.

The massive changes could have contributed to some less-than-impressive playing spells in the loss, yet Foster said it was the challenge of test soccer for a team to perform regardless of who is tasked with representing them.

“It was certainly a game where we wanted to give some players some chances, and I don’t regret that,” Foster said. “But what we have to do as an All Blacks team is demand when we have opportunities in the game that we are good enough and skilled enough to take advantage of them, and I don’t think we were.

“Right before halftime is another case of that, where we build up a lot of pressure, we get a lot of penalties and yet we weren’t good enough to take advantage of that. That’s test rugby and we have to learn from that.”