Sevens on hold for Ioane

Editor

Young All Blacks wing Rieko Ioane has no plans to return to the Sevens circuit in the near future as he gears up for Super Rugby.

Ioane doesn’t turn 20 until March but has already made his debut for New Zealand, winning two caps on the recent November tour and also scoring his first Test try.

Those appearances capped off a year that saw Ioane feature heavily on the Sevens circuit and also go to the Olympics with New Zealand, resulting in him being named All Blacks Sevens’ player of 2016 this week.

Now though with the Lions tour looming on the horizon, Ioane hopes to establish himself with the All Blacks at the start of a busy year.

“I’ll give Sevens a rest for now and see what happens with 15-a-side, I want to give the XVs a real good crack,” Ioane told the New Zealand Herald.

“Making the All Blacks again, getting some good game time with the Blues and winning a championship, it’s what we all want.”

Those lessons that Ioane has picked up from his year in Sevens however won’t be discarded, as Ioane intends to rest up before getting stuck into pre-season with Tana Umaga’s Blues.

“Hopefully I can take that learning and go on to a good XVs season. I need to have a good pre-season, relax, refresh and kick on to a strong 2017.”