Rieko Ioane hopes All Blacks can ‘post 40 again’ in ‘cracker’ clash with the Springboks

All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane is relishing the challenge of facing arch-rivals South Africa in round two of the Rugby Championship and hopes his side can post a big score line again.

The Springboks and All Blacks got off to a stunning start to the shortened tournament, with the South Africans thrashing the Wallabies in Pretoria and New Zealand claiming a convincing win over Argentina in Mendoza.

The Springboks are a tough team

Looking ahead to the clash with the Boks, Ioane said that their squad was working hard to get ready for the clash, having arrived back from Argentina on Monday.  

“It’s all about the boys getting their body right and filling our tank as fast as we can because we know that the Springboks are waiting for us, and we’re looking forward to Saturday,” he said.

“The Springboks are always a tough team; you want to be part of the biggest games. They’re one of our, if not biggest, rivals for the All Blacks.”

Ioane was one of seven try scorers against Argentina as the All Blacks and Boks notched over 40 points in their tournament openers.

The 60-Test All Black hopes that Saturday’s clash will be much of the same as he looks to add to his 34 tries, five of which have come against the Springboks in nine Tests.

“Hopefully, we can post 40 again, that would be good,” but I’m not too sure what’s going to unfold,” he said. “But we know that both teams are preparing to put out their best performance, and hopefully it’s a cracker.

“I don’t watch too much footy, but definitely their wingers, I think [Canan Moodie] played against us last year and caused us a bit of havoc under the high ball.

“We’re going to have things in place to counter that, but we don’t look too much at individuals, as we do team versus team, and I back our boys.”

Tweaks from last year

Last year, South Africa hosted both Test matches, with the Boks winning the first in Nelspruit and the All Blacks the second in Johannesburg, reflecting on the results, Ioane said: “We’ve both just started our campaigns. They’ll be finding their feet, as are we, and it’s what team can adapt the fastest on the run.”

However, Ioane has credited the All Blacks’ upswing in results to the coaches’ work.

“There have been a lot of tweaks from last year into this year, and it’s things we identified as a team towards the end of the year and the start of our year. Schmidty [Joe Schmidt] and Foz [Ian Foster] have been at the forefront of that,” Ioane added.

“Our drivers, Richie [Mo’unga], D Mac [Damian McKenzie] and Baz [Beauden Barrett] bossing us around, they’re the sort of masters of their craft, and we’re trying to play off them.

 “Everything is about getting that performance for us on Saturday. This week is a bit different to last week; we know that if we do everything we can in preparation for the week ahead, then that takes care of the bigger picture [the World Cup].

“We’re just looking to find that slow burn and building brick by brick.”

Combination with Jordie Barrett

The 26-year-old is set to start in the centres alongside Jordie Barrett again and they are set to go toe-to-toe with the experienced Springbok pairing of Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am.

Ioane praised his inside centre’s attributes as they start to build on their combination. 

“Jordie’s an outstanding player, and last Saturday was no different,” he said. “You saw the type of player he is, very physical and confrontational.

“I’ve always said that helps my game as a centre, especially us two being two bigger bodies. That’s what I am sure the coaches expect from us. He was phenomenal last week.”

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