Super Rugby: Chiefs signing Josh Ioane eager to get back in the 10 jersey

New Chiefs signing Josh Ioane is embracing his new environment in Hamilton as he looks to start afresh and earn his spot in coach Clayton McMillan’s side.

With Damian McKenzie taking up a contract in Japan the fly-half berth at the Chiefs is open for the taking, prompting Ioane to move after four seasons with the Highlanders.

Looking to rediscover his best

Ioane hopes to rediscover his best form at the Chiefs, producing the kind of performances that earned him the solitary All Black cap that he is hoping to add to.

“Oh, look, that’s every player’s dream, isn’t it,” he told Stuff.

“So to get back there would be awesome. But I think for me right now, my mindset is to try and get into that 10 jersey, that will be the focus, and influence the team where I can this season, and if higher honours come then I’ll be happy. If it doesn’t then it doesn’t.”

A core motivator of the move up north for the 26-year-old was the prospect of settling back into his preferred slot at 10 after being spread across multiple positions with the Highlanders.

“Game-time at 10 was definitely a factor, I felt like I wasn’t getting much game time at 10 at the Landers, and that’s where I wanted to play,” Ioane said.

“Ten is definitely my preferred position, but there’s a lot of competition here, we’ve got essentially four players who can play 10. All three of them have come into pre-season in bloody good shape.”

McKenzie’s departure presents itself as an opportunity for not only Ioane but also Bryn Gatland and Kaleb Trask. Coach McMillan has made no guarantees and believes competition to be healthy.

“The 10 situation is probably one of the most contestable positions in the team,” McMillan said.

“Josh has come to the Chiefs because he wants to play 10 and has sensed an opportunity to really challenge for a starting spot. But what we haven’t done, what I wouldn’t do with any player, is give him a guarantee or a rite of passage to a jersey. They’ve got to come here and earn it like everybody else.

“So Josh has made every post a winner, but equally I’ve been really impressed with the other guys. And that’s what competition does, everyone has to raise their game.

“Smart players will go into a new environment and not try and own the place right from the get-go” and that Ioane was now starting to find his voice at training, having popped into Chiefs headquarters off his own bat in December during a big holiday drive from Dunedin to Northland, then settling some early anxieties when the group got together.”

Ioane is quickly adjusting to life at his new club, albeit there has been notable change.

“I was real nervous day one, but the boys and management have been real welcoming,” Ioane said.

“It’s just a weird feeling, just because I’ve been at the Highlanders for four years and then walking into a new environment with new people, in a new city, it was just like I was starting school again.”

“I thought it was a good time for me to get out of Dunedin.

“I just feel that a new place, new environment could benefit me and maybe get the best out of myself, that was more the drive.”

The inaugural Super Rugby Pacific’s schedule suffered a pandemic enforced reshuffle that will see Ioane’s first game in Chiefs colours to be against the Highlanders.

“I had a couple of messages from the boys when that came out,” Ioane said. “It’s an interesting one. But I just want to make sure that I’m on the field.

“The focus for me is just trying to put my best foot forward this pre-season so I can play against my old mates.”

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