All Blacks vs Australia: from the ‘dark’ days to the black jersey, the trials of Akira Ioane

For Akira Ioane, the public ridicule a man could do was limited. After hanging out to dry off too many times during a brutal 2019 season, he seriously contemplated turning his back on rugby.

Now 25, and still cashing a check for playing the game he loves, here he is about to make his test debut at No. 6 for the All Blacks in Saturday’s Tri-Nations contest against the Wallabies in Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, along with his younger brother, Rieko, no less, who has earned a starting recall on the left wing.

The Ioane brothers are among 10 changes coach Ian Foster has made to his XV starter for Saturday’s fourth straight game against the Wallabies (eight new faces, two position changes), with Akira one of four test debutants. in match 23, along with reserves Asafo Aumua, Cullen Grace and Will Jordan.

But he has easily taken the more precipitous path to this special moment, having first stepped into the All Blacks milieu in 2017 on the year-end tour when he slipped in his first black jersey appearance in a midweek game. against a French XV. in Lyon.

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Truth be told, Ioane has been on the All Blacks’ radar practically since he made a striking debut for the New Zealand sevens team in Wellington in 2014 and then burst onto the XV scene the following year with the Blues, Auckland and New. Maori Zealand.

But his hasn’t been the smoothest ride to the top of the mountain, with the talented but enigmatic forward on the loose often feeling the sharp end of former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.

After knocking him out of an extended Rugby Championship squad last year, and indeed the World Cup squad to boot, Hansen was particularly tough on a player who felt he hadn’t faced the challenge of earning his spot in the All Blacks.

“It’s the same problem you’ve always had,” the boss explained at the time. “He came into the season not as fit as he could have been and he played every game for the Blues while trying to get fit.

“He is a tired athlete. We know what’s below the surface, but we need him to take care of that. You can only lead a horse to the water, you cannot make it drink. You have to decide to be thirsty. “

Ioane admitted in a New Zealand media call from Sydney on Thursday that he had been through “dark” times dealing with the rejection and criticism he received so publicly.

“There were a lot of invisible things that happened behind the scenes trying to get back to the All Blacks,” he explained. “I’m happy with the support team around me and the motivation I had to try to come back.”

When asked to explain things behind the scenes, he said: “It was a lot of different things, mainly the mental side. He was not in the right mental space in 2019 and he wanted to give up rugby. That was a pretty dark point in my life so far, just working on it. “

Ioane said he turned to his closest friends (the “Dorito boys”), his family (father Eddie and mother Sandra, as well as Rieko) and his partner for the conversations he needed to turn things around.

“I was lucky that my children and my family supported me,” he reflected. “It’s good to know that we’ve all been through different things in our lives outside of rugby that haven’t necessarily gone well for us. It’s good to have a tight-knit group like you can have honest conversations about how you feel and what you want to do. “

No one more honest than father Eddie, who represented Manu Samoa at the highest level of the game and had some good advice for his son when he was thinking about turning his back on the game.

“I wanted to quit rugby … probably end up being a tradie or something,” Ioane said. “Then I said my dad kicked me in the butt and gave me the hard word. He asked me if I really wanted a 9-5 job. I recovered, said no, and started training hard.

“Coming from dad, it was a real wake-up call. He’s never actually talked to me like that, other than scolding me when I was younger. I meant well and I’m glad we had that open and honest conversation … otherwise I wouldn’t be here. “

Foster is also absorbed. He has persevered with Ioane this year and has seen a maturity in the young man’s game as he has faced similar challenges in the Blues setting.

“We all love these stories when a player has expectations and does not meet them or does not get the opportunity that everyone thinks they deserve. It’s not easy to get into the All Blacks and it’s not easy to get into the 23, ”said the first-year national coach.

“He’s gone and made some changes. We saw through the Blues campaign that it accomplished a lot outside of the park and we started to see some good responses in the park. His work rate is increasing and he has become quite a physical player. Now the challenge is to transfer that to the test arena where everything is amplified a bit. “

Adds Foster: “He deserves a lot of credit for that. It’s easy for players to sulk and get upset when they don’t get what they want. But the only thing they can really control if they are not selected is how they prepare and act … and he has done very well. “

Ioane is simply engrossed in being able to make that belated test debut alongside his younger brother, who has been through his own challenges over the last year.

“He has had his own personal battle and we both work on it. It’s a big reason why I’ve gotten back in shape and started playing the rugby I’ve been. A big hello to him and I know he is looking forward to playing with him on Saturday for the first time in the black jersey. “