An American YouTuber, known as Jomboy, has made a living out of lip-reading iconic baseball videos. Managers shouting at umpires, that sort of thing. What are they saying in the heat of the moment?
If rugby had an equivalent, there’s a fair few clicks to be had for anyone able to figure out what Rieko Ioane came out with after scoring against Edinburgh.
My lip-reading skills are clearly not up to scratch. There might be an f-bomb in there – that’s all I’ve got. Thankfully, the hand cupped to the ear is easier to decipher. Ioane enjoyed his moment and telling people about it in equal measure. Who’s talking now?
Over the top? Maybe. A sign of a player under pressure? Almost certainly. Fairly or otherwise, Ioane has been compared to Jordie Barrett in terms of impact during their respective short-term Leinster stints. This All Black has not influenced games to the same extent as his former centre partner. Plenty have taken pleasure in pointing out such a fact, given Ioane’s pantomime villain status after his interactions with Johnny Sexton.
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Sunday was undoubtedly Ioane’s best display in a blue shirt. Ten games in, Leinster saw the quality that should come with an 88-cap All Black. As the season approaches the stage where the province has consistently fallen short in knockout matches, the Easter Sunday revival of Ioane’s quality could hardly have been better timed.
The numbers alone tell of a story of a player who impacted the game. Eleven carries, 105 metres carried (highest of all players on the day), three line breaks, two assists and a try scored. Outside backs should be dominating those sorts of stats, but Ioane hadn’t consistently done so in his previous outings.
Arguably the best moment came on his first assist, a beautiful pass thrown for Tommy O’Brien’s second score of the match. Playing off a scrum, Leinster’s backline move initially looks stagnant, Harry Byrne taking the ball standing still before throwing a slightly wobbly pass. Edinburgh are numbered up well in defence.
Ioane, though, reacts by holding his feet, slowing down his movement to avoid over-running the pass. He then drifts ever so slightly to the right, allowing him to get on the outside of the defender. It’s a subtle movement but it opens the play up, taking one defender out and drawing another in. Ioane next throws a beautiful, left-to-right pass over the top to send O’Brien into space.
A similar movement, albeit followed from a much more straightforward pass, led to Hugo Keenan’s try later in the first half. In this case, Ioane is running at a disorganised defence, but his ability to shift from left to right before the ball has reached him is effective.
It interests another wide defender, making what was already a simple finish for Keenan that bit more straightforward. Both try assists came from moving while the ball is still mid-air, ensuring Ioane has beaten his defender before he even has the ball. They are subtle but quality interventions, a sign of a player in good attacking flow.
Footwork was a consistent theme of Ioane’s display. On the hour-mark, he shifted from outside centre to wing when Robbie Henshaw replaced Jimmy O’Brien. The All Black does not have the same pace that saw him tear on to the international scene as a young winger, but he still showed signs of quality.
His first touch after moving position helped set up a try. He initially holds his width well, staying on the outside of Darcy Graham to take a wide pass. A step then takes him inside Piers O’Connor. Graham recovers well to haul Ioane down short of the line but, one phase later, Thomas Clarkson scores as Edinburgh struggle to scramble.
Holding width was another aspect of Ioane’s general play across the 80 minutes. When Leinster broke through for Tommy O’Brien’s opener, they could actually have scored a phase earlier had Jimmy O’Brien looked to his right instead of his left. There, after the initial line break, Ioane stayed outside the final defender. If the ball came, he had a good chance of scoring. The ball ultimately didn’t come, but Ioane still worked hard to be the first to the breakdown once Jimmy O’Brien was caught.
Ioane’s second touch on the wing brought about his own highlight – a second try in 10 Leinster appearances, his first since December. It came on transition ball as Leinster attacked after a turnover. Jamison Gibson-Park’s pass takes out multiple defenders, leaving Ioane in a one-on-one.
Graham does not cover himself in glory here. His team-mate Charlie Shiel points at Ioane, saying ‘take him’ as he tracks the supporting Gibson-Park. Graham, though, appears disinterested in a tackle, instead biting in on a pass to Gibson-Park that never came. Ioane happily sold the dummy, racing into the corner before sparking that lip-reading debate with his celebration.
It wasn’t the most difficult finish of Ioane’s career, but the fact that the score came on counterattack may well be worth highlighting. Much like Ireland, Leinster have looked to catch up on the global trend of improving transition attack, searching for scores within a few phases of winning possession. They were good in that area on Sunday. Speaking on The Counter Ruck podcast, Gordon D’Arcy, a former Leinster centre himself, argued that Leinster’s attack is starting to look more suited to Ioane as the season goes on.
“Sometimes you get your overseas player, they’re the catalyst, the creator, they change games for you, I don’t think Ioane is necessarily that type of player,” said D’Arcy. “He’s the guy that, when Leinster were doing well like they were on the weekend, he will massively be the icing on the cake.
“You talk about those games all the way through the season to date where he’s been picked as the experienced player but hasn’t had the impact. Part of the reason for that is Leinster haven’t been playing in a way that suits him.
“I think if we’re suggesting that Leinster are moving towards a more expansive way of playing then Ioane is a player that should thrive in that type of environment. Broken-field rugby, playing out in front, playing a bit wider should definitely play to his strengths.”
Are Leinster champions cup contenders/how have things gone this badly wrong for Munster?
Ioane certainly had bad moments to go with the good. An early pass over the head of Jimmy O’Brien coughed up a decent opportunity. He was also guilty of a deliberate knock-on. Edinburgh’s third try came via an intercept when Matt Currie, the man Ioane was supposed to draw in with a decoy, was still able to drift out to disrupt a pass.
Regardless, it’s going to be hard to replace Ioane at centre for Saturday’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Sale Sharks, especially since Leinster haven’t always had such creative attacking moments from the 13 jersey this year.
Based on his first 10 games, Ioane won’t go down in the annals of Leinster’s top overseas signings. Should this uptick in form continue along to a European final date in Bilbao, though, it won’t be the frustrating start that is remembered, but rather the well-timed sprint to the finish.
